Camembert de Normandie 250g

Camembert is a soft bloomy rinded cheese made from cow’s milk. Gillot Camembert cheese is made from raw Normandie cow’s milk and is hand ladled, dry salted and turned manually during maturation. When ripe, the white rind is streaked with reddish brown patches and has the signature Camembert vegetal aroma. It is a unique cheese that has never been replicated despite the thousands of attempts. The fully ripe paste never runs, it just bulges out from between its rind. The skin is a deep white with sometimes reddish blotches or streaks. The aroma is of fresh mushrooms, butter, grass and steamed green vegetables. Although the flavour fills your mouth, it is never overly pungent, sharp or bitter.

A bit of history…. In France in the spring of 2007 the two largest Camembert manufacturers, Lactalis and the co-opérative Isigny Sainte-Mère, started making their Camembert with pasteurised milk. The move followed a health scare involving six children who got sick after eating raw milk Camembert. The two companies sacrificed the AOC status on the bulk of their Camembert de Normandie production in order to eliminate raw milk from the process. Later that year they lobbied the French government to change the Camembert Charter, the AOC rules on how Camembert is produced, to allow their non-raw milk Camembert to retain its Camembert de Normandie certificate. Traditional Camembert makers said the move would destroy the magic of this hand-ladled cheese. The French media exploded with indignation and rage, accusing the large companies of attempting to kill tradition. Lactalis fought a bitter PR battle for almost two years. The companies’ request to the government was rejected. The Camembert Charter remained in its original version. Under AOC rules Camembert de Normandie must still be made using raw milk. The victory was hailed in France as a triumph of a small traditional production method against the might of a globalised giant (BOOK)