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Something About A New Kind of Camembert Stinks (And It's Not the Cheese)

Posted by Ed Levine, June 20, 2007 at 8:21 AM

In this morning's New York Times Elaine Sciolino reports that certain French Camembert makers want to change the rules to allow the formerly unpasteurized raw milk used to make traditional Camembert to be treated and yet still receive the anthenticating AOC designation from the government. A couple of years ago Jeff Steingarten and I sat down at Artisanal with one of its young fromagers for a taste test to find out if one can tell the difference between treated and untreated Camembert.
Cheese gendarmes, please note that the untreated, raw milk cheese had been smuggled in by a third party unrelated to either me or Steingarten or the fellow from Artisanal.

If my memory serves me well, the cheeses we tried were treated and untreated Canadian Camemberts. The untreated, raw milk cheese had been smuggled in by an unknown amateur cheese smuggling tourist (New York cheesemongers have their ways). Both cheeses were perfectly ripe, and I would have been happy with either of them with a crusty piece of bread and a glass of wine, but the untreated Camembert had a little more depth of flavor, a little more tang, and a little more soul. I wouldn't have kicked either of them off a cheese plate.

Though the French Camembert makers requesting the rule change claim it is for safety reasons (six children fell ill in 2005 after eating raw milk Camembert), they are also going to continue making raw milk, untreated Camembert "on a small scale with tight controls."

So, they want to have their raw milk Camembert and the treated stuff as well. It seems as if something really stinks about this state of affairs, and it's not the cheese.

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