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Fermentation Atlas

Bloomy-rind cheeses

White Penicillium camemberti rinds that ripen the cheese from the outside in.

36 entries listed here.

How these cheeses are made

The shared make of bloomy-rind soft cheese family (camembert de normandie as template). Each cheese below says what it does differently.

  1. Mature the milk with starterup to 24 h · up to 22 °C
  2. Set with rennet1–1.5 h · 28–37 °C
  3. Ladle into moulds4–6 h · 26–28 °C
  4. Drain and turnat least 18 h · 16–22 °C
  5. Dry-salt1.5–1.8 % salt
  6. Ripen in the hâloir as the white rind growsat least 13 days · 10–18 °C
  7. Box and finish ripeningat least 22 days

Compare them

CheeseRegionMilkRipeningRind
Altenburger Ziegenkäse PDOGermany, the border area of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-AnhaltCow milk with at least 15 % goat milk, both pasteurisedWhite mould ripening for 8–10 days; minimum age 14 days
Bonchester Cheese PDOScotland and England, the Border lands within 90 km of Peel Fell in the Cheviot HillsUnpasteurised whole milk of Jersey cows grazing the Border lands6–12 days
Brie de Meaux PDOFrance, the eastern Paris basinRaw cow milk, pre-matured under 48 h at 22 °C or less; thermophilic cultures are bannedAt least 4 weeks: under 21 days in the ripening room at 8–16 °C, then caves at 4–14 °C; ripe to the core at 6–8 weeks
Brie de Melun PDOFrance, the Brie country east of ParisRaw cow milk only, partly skimmedAt least 5 weeks from renneting; ripe to the core at 8–10 weeks
Brillat-Savarin PGIBurgundy and Île-de-FranceWhole cow milk enriched with cow creamSold from day 3; "affiné" at least 5 days (small) or 8 days (large)
Camel-milk soft cheeseMauritaniaCamel milk, low in casein; its κ-casein to β-casein ratio is about 0.05, against about 0.33 in cow milk15–45 days
Camembert de Normandie PDOFrance, NormandyRaw milk, at least 50% from Normande cows, stored no more than 72 h; cold maturation under 24 h at 22 °C or less; never heated above 40 °CRipening room at 10–18 °C; not packed before day 13, delivered no earlier than day 22 after renneting
Carré de l'EstFrance, Lorraine and ChampagneCow milk, today mostly pasteurised or thermised and made in dairiesAbout four weeks in the 1967 study, when the paste had reached pH 6.85
Chaource PDOChampagne humide, FranceWhole cow milk with unchanged fat and proteinAt least 14 days from renneting
NeufchâtelFrance, NormandyCow milk; raw on farms, may be pasteurised or thermised in dairiesAt least 10 days from moulding at 10–14 °C and 90–100 % RH
ObatzdaGermany, Bavaria
Tomme vaudoise (tomme neuchâteloise, de Rougemont, de la Vallée)Switzerland, Vaud and Neuchâtel7–14 daysThin white downy bloom, grid marks
Cadolet di capraItaly, Lombardia30 daysThin, wrinkled, soon covered with short white mould, later overlaid by grey moulds
CoulommiersFrance, Seine-et-MarneCow milk14–28 days
Formaggella della Val SabbiaItaly, Lombardia30 days – 2 monthsWhite bloomy (Penicillium candidum)
PaglierinaItaly, Piemonteat least 7 daysThin, soft, bloomy white-straw with grid marks
Tomino di SaronsellaItaly, Piemonte4–7 daysVery thin, edible, straw-yellow covered with white mould
Tomme de La Chaux-d'AbelSwitzerland, Bernese JuraCow milk, raw according to the inventory7–14 daysBrown-white, with a fine white mould
Toumin dal MelItaly, Piemonteat least 4 daysThin, edible, porcelain-white with white mould
Valtellina ScimudinItaly, Lombardia10–30 daysThin, dry, edible, covered with whitish-grey mould
Baron BigodEngland, Suffolk, Fen Farm Dairy at Bungay on the River WaveneyCow milk from the farm's Montbéliarde herd, gently heat-treatedUp to 8 weeks
Bavaria Blu / CambozolaBavaria, GermanyCow milk with cream~4–6 wk
ExplorateurSeine-et-Marnecow + milk, cream~3 wk
FrinaultFrance, Loiretcow milk, whole, pasteurisedP. candidum; about 2 wk at 12 °C in a humid cellar
GaperonFrance, Auvergne21–28 daysBloomy
HarbisonVermontcow milk~6–12 wk
Hermelín / Pivní sýrCzechiacow milk~2 wk
Olivet (incl. Olivet cendré)France, Loiretcow milk, ; historic farm cheese raw; current versions pasteurisedP. candidum, 15 d in very humid rooms at 12 °C, then by type
Pierre-RobertSeine-et-Marnecow + milk, cream~3–4 wk
Pithiviers au foin (Bondaroy au foin)France, LoiretCow milk; one source says pasteurisedIn hay, 3–5 weeks by one source and 3 weeks by anotherWhite-yellow bloom with hay pressed on
PratolinaItaly, Toscanaup to 2 monthsVery thin, snow-white Penicillium candidum bloom
Red HawkUSA, California, Point Reyes StationOrganic cow milk with added cream (triple-cream)About two weeks before washing, then washed with salt waterOrange-red washed rind
Riopelle de l'IsleQuébeccow + milk, cream
Robiola BosinaLanghecow/sheep milk~2 wk
Saint-AndréFranceCow milk with added cream (outline only)About 30 days according to one outline source; others call it a young cheese
TunworthHampshirecow milk~6 wk

Bold names have a full page with the animated steps. Blank cells: no sourced value yet.

Short entries

What the sources record about each of these so far.

Baron BigodEngland, Suffolk, Fen Farm Dairy at Bungay on the River Waveney

Baron Bigod is a large Brie de Meaux-style bloomy-rind cheese made on Fen Farm in Suffolk from the milk of the farm's own Montbéliarde cows. The warm morning milk is lightly heat-treated, soured with lactic cultures and renneted, and the curd is hand-ladled with a pelle à brie into large hoops. Salted on day two, the cheeses grow a white Penicillium candidum rind and ripen for up to eight weeks.

Milk
Cow milk from the farm's Montbéliarde herd, gently heat-treated
Ripening
Up to 8 weeks
  1. Heat-treat and sour the milk
  2. Rennet, set and cut
  3. Hand-ladle into hoops
  4. Unmould and salt
  5. Grow the white rind
  6. Ripen in paper and poplar boxesup to 56 days
Bavaria Blu / CambozolaBavaria, Germany

Bavaria Blu is a soft cow-milk cheese with a white mould rind outside and blue veins inside. Its maker, Bergader in Waging am See, says its cheesemakers invented this mix of a white-rinded soft cheese and a blue cheese. Cambozola is a similar German white-and-blue cheese.

Milk
Cow milk with cream
Moulds
White mould on the rind and blue mould inside
Ripening
~4–6 wk

Made like Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template).

ExplorateurSeine-et-Marne

triple-crème

Milk
cow + milk, cream
Ripening
~3 wk

Made like Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template).

FrinaultFrance, Loiret

Frinault is a small soft cow-milk cheese from near Orléans, first made by the Frinault family in 1872 and now ripened at Châteauneuf-sur-Loire. It is made much like camembert from pasteurised whole milk; the plain disc ripens about two weeks under a white Penicillium rind, and the cendré version is packed in charcoal ash.

Milk
cow milk, whole, pasteurised
Ripening
P. candidum; about 2 wk at 12 °C in a humid cellar
Size
disc 10 cm × 2 cm, 120 g

Made like Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template).

GaperonFrance, Auvergne

Dome-shaped Auvergne soft cheese with garlic, pepper and buttermilk in the curd; cloth-hung to ripen.

Rind
Bloomy
Size
250–500 g; 5–11 cm diameter, 5–10 cm high; dome
  1. Prepare the milk
  2. Mould and salt
  3. Ripen21–28 days
HarbisonVermont

spruce bark band

Milk
cow milk
Ripening
~6–12 wk

Made like Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template).

Hermelín / Pivní sýrCzechia

Czech Camembert; nakládaný hermelín pickled in oil with onion, pepper

Milk
cow milk
Ripening
~2 wk

Made like Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template).

Olivet (incl. Olivet cendré)France, Loiret

Olivet was a spring farm cheese of cow milk from the Olivet area near Orléans, dusted with vine-shoot charcoal so the cheeses did not stick together. Farm making has stopped; the name, which is not protected, is now used for pasteurised bloomy-rind discs ripened about 15 days in a humid room at 12 °C and then finished blue, ash-coated, in hay or with pepper.

Milk
cow milk, ; historic farm cheese raw; current versions pasteurised
Ripening
P. candidum, 15 d in very humid rooms at 12 °C, then by type
Size
current: 12 cm diameter, 2.5 cm high, 230–240 g; 1905: disc about 15 cm × 4 cm

Made like Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template).

Pierre-RobertSeine-et-Marne

triple-crème, longer ripened

Milk
cow + milk, cream
Ripening
~3–4 wk

Made like Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template).

Pithiviers au foin (Bondaroy au foin)France, Loiret

A soft cow-milk cheese with a white bloomy rind, made as a flat disc and ripened in hay, which dries it so it keeps longer and gives it a slightly fruity taste. It was once made in summer and kept in hay into the autumn; today it is mostly made by one dairy outside the Loiret.

Milk
Cow milk; one source says pasteurised
Curd
Uncooked and unpressed
Ripening
In hay, 3–5 weeks by one source and 3 weeks by another
Rind
White-yellow bloom with hay pressed on
Size
Disc about 12 cm across and 2.5–3 cm thick, about 300 g
Fat
45 % fat (basis not stated)

Made like Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template).

PratolinaItaly, Toscana

Also called Formaggio caprino.

Rare bloomy-rind goat cheese from Grosseto; made Mar–Oct.

Rind
Very thin, snow-white Penicillium candidum bloom
Size
~300 g; small cylinder, sags under its own weight
  1. Prepare the milk
  2. Set the curd
  3. Cut and drain the curd
  4. Mould and salt
  5. Ripenup to 2 months
Red HawkUSA, California, Point Reyes Station

Also called Red Hawk, Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk.

A triple-cream cow cheese made like Cowgirl Creamery's Mt Tam, with cream added to organic milk. After about two weeks the white yeast bloom is scrubbed off and the cheese is washed with salt water, and Brevibacterium linens from the West Marin air turns the rind orange-red. It began as an accident when summer batches of Mt Tam picked up the local bacteria.

Milk
Organic cow milk with added cream (triple-cream)
Ripening
About two weeks before washing, then washed with salt water
Rind
Orange-red washed rind
Size
About 4 inches across, 2 inches high, 12 oz
  1. Make a triple-cream curd
  2. Mould and drain
  3. Grow a white bloom14 days
  4. Scrub and wash with salt water
  5. Let the local smear bacteria take over

Safety: No safety source specific to this cheese was found.

Riopelle de l'IsleQuébec

triple-crème

Milk
cow + milk, cream

Made like Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template).

Robiola BosinaLanghe

square bloomy

Milk
cow/sheep milk
Ripening
~2 wk

Made like Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template).

Saint-AndréFrance

Also called Saint-André, Saint Andre triple crème, St André.

Saint-André is a factory-made French bloomy-rind cow cheese enriched with cream. To be called triple crème under French law it must hold at least 75 g of fat per 100 g of dry matter. The making follows the bloomy-rind family; no source found gives its own process.

Milk
Cow milk with added cream (outline only)
Fat
Triple crème means at least 75 g fat per 100 g of dry matter
Ripening
About 30 days according to one outline source; others call it a young cheese

Made like Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template).

TunworthHampshire

English camembert

Milk
cow milk
Ripening
~6 wk

Made like Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template).

Numbers come from cited sources and carry a label that says how each is known. How this atlas is made