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AOC (Protected designation of origin)
Flavors of Paris and the Ile-de-France
AOC (Protected designation of origin)
Melun brie has very ancient origins and is often considered to be the ancestor of all varieties of brie cheese. Old manuscripts even suggest that it existed before the Roman invasion. Formerly the cheese was made on farms, but these days small dairies have taken over production while preserving the old farm traditions of production and ripening.
History and brie
Charlemagne was a great admirer of brie cheeses.
Duke Charles of Orleans, father of Louis XII, ordered twenty dozen cheeses from the land of Brie as Christmas gifts for his ladies.
The writer La Fontaine (1621-1695) included Brie de Melun in his fable “The Fox and the Crow”: the crow holds a brie in his beak. At the Vienna Congress (1815), brie was declared the “king of cheeses” during a diplomatic banquet.
Brie de Melun is one of the French cheeses permitted to use the AOC label, or protected designation of origin.
Product
Cow’s milk cheese
Nutritional value
Fat accounts for 45% of its dry (solid) components, which in turn make up at least 40% of the cheese.
Production
Producing Brie de Melun involves long and careful technique. The cheesemaker working with raw milk has to adapt his preparation data every day, depending on the season, weather, temperature, animals’ diet… Brie de Melun is slow-drained cheese made by pressure-formed curd which undergoes a coagulation process of at least 18 hours. Molding is done manually with a ladle in molds 12 cm (5”) high and 27 cm (11”) in diameter. They are turned several times a day to promote drainage. The resulting curd is very fragile and must be handled with extreme care. It is salted on both sides on subsequent days. The ripening process lasts at least 4 weeks in a cellar at a temperature of about 10° C (50° F), but perfect ripening requires at least 7 to 8 weeks.
Curd
The curd is supple, elastic and not runny.
Rind
The thin rind is covered with a white bloom marked with red or brown streaks or patches, the result of proper aging.
Appearance
Shape: flat cylinder 27 cm (11”) in diameter, 3 cm (1 1/4”) thick, 1.5 to 1.8 kg (3 1/3 to 4 lb.) in weight.
Flavor
Very fruity with a strong scent of its terroir.
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