143. The Camembert group.—The soft cheeses ripened by molds are French in origin. Their manufacture has spread into Germany, Italy and America. Of the series, the most widely known is Camembert, which will be described as typical for the group. Brie, Coulommiers, Robbiola and Ripened Neufchâtel belong to this series.
144. Camembert cheese.—The origin of Camembert is given by French authorities as 1791 in the Commune of Camembert near Vimoutiers in Orne, France. From a very restricted production at first, Camembert-making has spread through the region from Caen in the west to Havre, Rouen and a considerable area east of Paris. In America Camembert began to be made in one factory about 1900. Several other factories followed by 1906. The difficulties and losses encountered led to the abandonment of these undertakings, until at the outbreak of the European war in 1914 but one factory was making Camembert and that only on an experimental scale. Meanwhile the United States Department of Agriculture and the Storrs Experiment Station had taken up and solved, on an experimental basis, most of the problems arising in these commercial failures. A shortage of product at the outbreak of the war brought about the re-establishment of a series of factories. The product as put on the market indicates that a permanent establishment of Camembert-making is entirely practicable.
Camembert cheese is made from cow's milk either whole or very slightly skimmed; the removal of about 0.5 per cent of fat has been found to be desirable if not actually necessary.
145. Description of Camembert.[50]—These cheeses are made in sizes 2½ to 4½ inches in diameter and 1¼ to 1½ inches in thickness. They are ripened by the agency of molds and bacteria which form a felt-like rind over their whole surface, ⅟16 to ⅛ of an inch in thickness. This rind may be dry and gray or grayish-green, consisting of a felt-like surface of mold on the outside, below which a harder portion consists of mold embedded in partially dried cheese, or the moldy part may be more or less completely overgrown or displaced by yellowish or reddish slime composed mainly of bacteria. Good cheeses may have either appearance.
Inside the rind, the cheese is softened progressively from the rind toward the center from all sides, so that a fully ripe cheese has no hard sour curd in the center, but is completely softened. No mold should be visible inside the rind, but the moldy rind itself is necessary because the ripening is caused by the enzymes secreted by the organisms of the rind into the cheese. As the curd ripens, the changed portion assumes a slightly deeper color than the unripe curd as a result of chemical changes. Well-ripened cheeses vary from nearly a fluid texture to the consistency of moderately soft butter. The ripening of Camembert is finished in wooden boxes which protect the cheeses from breaking after they become soft and during the market period.
146. Conditions of making and ripening.—These processes depend on a very close adjustment between the composition of the freshly made cheese and the temperature and humidity of the rooms in which the cheeses are made and ripened. Very slight failures in control bring loss in ultimate results. The room for making Camembert should be maintained between 60° and 70° F. and should be wet enough to reduce drying to a minimum. The essentials of apparatus are comparatively inexpensive. Work on a factory basis calls, however, for the installation of special tables and other apparatus to utilize space and labor to advantage. Rooms are protected from change of weather by double sash in the windows. Flies must be excluded by close-meshed screens for all doors and windows with movable sash. The equipment installed in such a room is shown in Fig. 18. Curdling cans are ranged on a shelf a few inches above the floor along one side of the room below an open tin trough with side branches. This open trough brings the milk from the mixing vat to the curdling cans. (The open tin trough offers no lodgment for dirt.) The cans hold about 200 pounds of milk, are about 12 inches in diameter at bottom, and 20 to 24 inches at top. They are heavily tinned. Iron trucks as high as the shelf and with tops the same diameter as the bottoms of the cans form a convenient method of bringing cans of curd to the very edge of the draining tables.
Fig. 18.—Camembert cheese-making room in an American factory.
The wooden draining tables are placed about 32 inches above the floor; they are usually made of 2-inch lumber,