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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from France, Lorraine and Champagne

Carré de l'Est

Carré de l'Est is a small, square, soft cow-milk cheese from Lorraine with a white, downy rind. Ripened milk is set with rennet, cut into large pieces, filled into square moulds and drained for about 20 hours, then ripened for a few weeks while the surface mould lifts the pH of the paste from about 4.8 to near neutral. Made in 4 steps over 30 days. The longest step, ripen under a white rind, takes 29 days (Tourneur C 1967). Mixed lactic acid bacteria of the starter and Penicillium caseicolum (now classed with P. camemberti), the white felt on the rind do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step29 daysMeasured[tourneur1967]Ripen under a white rind
Temperature34 °CMeasured[tourneur1967]Pasteurise and ripen the milk with starter
AciditypH 4.8 → 6.85Measured[tourneur1967]Ripen under a white rind
Fully documentedCheese30 daysName defined in French cheese law (décret n° 2007-628 of 27 April 2007); no AOPFamily: Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template)More bloomy-rind cheesesMore from France

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAmounts from an industrial make of Carré de l'Est-type cheese in a dairy studied in 1967, given per 120 g of milk dry matter (about 1 litre of milk). No current standard recipe was found.
Cow milk · Pasteurised at 72 °C for 60 seconds in the dairy studied in 1967[tourneur1967][plf-carre]
About 2 % of the milkLactic starter (mixed culture grown on pasteurised milk)[tourneur1967]
0.25 g per 120 g of milk dry matterCalcium chloride[tourneur1967]
0.3 ml of 1/10 000 rennet per 120 g of milk dry matterRennet[tourneur1967]
White surface mould (Penicillium caseicolum, now P. camemberti)[oqlf-moisissures]
Startermixed mesophilic lactic starter; rennet; white surface mould

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days

Start
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34 °Cshapes, not to countLactic acid bacteriaPenicillium caseicolum

What changes: A lactic starter goes into the pasteurised milk, which sours slowly at 34 °C

Step 1 of 4
Pasteurise and ripen the milk with starter
Time
2.5–3 h
Measured
Temperature
34 °C
Measured
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Penicillium caseicolum
Moulds

Values from the pasteurised-milk control cheeses in an industrial study of Carré de l'Est-type curds (Tourneur et al. 1967). Output: ripened milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Carré de l'Est is a square cheese from Lorraine made like Camembert, with a sour, slow-drained curd under a white mould rind. It is smaller and flatter than Brie and is defined by its square shape rather than by a protected origin.

Shape and size
Square, 8.5–11 cm a side and 2–3 cm thick, 100–300 g; a small and a large size also exist
Milk
Cow milk, today mostly pasteurised or thermised and made in dairies
Ripening
About four weeks in the 1967 study, when the paste had reached pH 6.85

Related ferments

Variants

  • Petit Carré de l'Est2.5 to 2.9 inches a side and 4.4 to 5.6 oz (about 6.4–7.4 cm and 125–160 g).
  • Grand Carré de l'Est7 to 8.2 inches a side and 28.2 oz to 2.6 lb (about 18–21 cm and 0.8–1.2 kg).

Safety

Most Carré de l'Est is now made from pasteurised or thermised milk. In the 1967 study the fresh curds were at pH 4.45–4.65, and the pH rose to near neutral as the rind mould ripened the cheese.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The name comes from the square shape and from eastern France (l'Est). The French dairy sector says its definition is set by the cheese decree of 27 April 2007 (décret 2007-628); the decree's annex of reserved names could not be read for this entry.

  1. [tourneur1967] Tourneur C., Do Ngoc Cu, Lenoir J., Veisseyre R. 1967, L'influence de l'emploi du lait concentré sur certaines caractéristiques des fabrications fromagères, Le Lait 47(467):383–392 (curds of the Carré de l'Est type, industrial and laboratory makes)paper
  2. [plf-carre] Produits Laitiers de France (French dairy sector site), Carré de l'Est product pageweb
  3. [oqlf-moisissures] Office québécois de la langue française 1983, Grand dictionnaire terminologique, 'fromage affiné aux moisissures' (note on Penicillium caseicolum)gov
  4. [decret-2007-628] Décret n° 2007-628 du 27 avril 2007 relatif aux fromages et spécialités fromagères (FAOLEX copy; the annex listing defined cheese names is not reproduced there)spec