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Masterclass: Brie de Meaux

What is Brie de Meaux AOP

The classic Brie de Meaux AOP is the original brie. It has been copied around the world.

  • Wole brie
  • Brie de Meaux on the counter
  • Brie with orange flecked rind development
  • Ripe and evenly ripened paste
  • Ripe cheese with small holes

Cheese Profile:

Taste ProfileTastesDairy FlavoursOther Flavours
Taste & FlavourHigh umami
Moderate salt
Low Sweet
Low Acid		Butter
Cream		Mushroom, Wet Leaves, Wet Wood, Brassica (cabbage), Farmyard, Silage, Dry Straw, Wet Straw, Rubber
Ammonia in very ripe or over ripe cheeses
MouthfeelGooey, fatty. Compresses when pressed to top palate.  The rind has a fragile fabric texture.
DescriptionDisc shaped, 3-4cm high, 30cm in diameter
Rind: White mould, orange/brown flecks on along the ridges
Paste: fully broken down to elastic curd, slightly firmer and small eyes towards the center

Brie de Meaux AOP dates back to at least 774 when the French Emperor Charlemagne ordered it regularly when he was in the area. It comes originally from Meaux, 50km East of Paris, but is now made in a larger region and closer to the capital. It 1814 at the Congress of Vienna ambassadors from all over Europe competed over cheese, and Brie de Meaux won, crowned “king of cheeses” and “the cheese of kings”. It was brie that inspired that creation of camembert in the 18th century.

Brie is a soft cheese Make with a Penicillium camemberti dominant rind. Cheesemakers will have their own blend of further yeast, moulds and bacteria to bring their own flavour to the cheese. It has a life of around 50 days, matured in cellars around 8-9oC.

Brie boxes & Packaging

Bries are packaged in large boxes of thin wood similar to camembert, decorated with the cheesemaker’s brand and artwork.

Inside the box the cheese is wrapped in a porous, moisture proof paper, allowing the cheese to breath to ripen during transit and storage.

Variations in Brie

Brie alone is not a protected name, and bries are made world wide. In addition there are other recognised or common types of Brie:

  • Brie de Melun AOP: a lactic style of brie also made local to Paris
  • Brie de Nangis: another brie style made local to Paris. There is no protected geographical indicator for this cheese
  • Black brie: aged brie that becomes hard and caramel coloured
  • Brie de Pays: country bries made to a local or branded style
  • Petit Brie: small bries usually around 1kg

Further Links

You can find out more about Brie de Meaux at charlieturnbull,com Ultimate Guides: Brie de Meaux

For further information on the PDO rules for making Brie de Meaux go to:

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