Camembert is one of the more trickier cheeses to attempt to make. It is not for the faint hearted, even if you have a bit of experience under your belt.
I can honestly say that I have only gotten this cheese to taste right two times out of the four times that I have made it, so you can take this post with a grain of salt if you like.
However with that said, one of the two attempts of making this cheese that I did get right, I lucked-in and recorded this session via a video tutorial of the process, and have some photos of the aging process.
Here is the video to begin with so you understand the process of how to make Camembert. It is quite different to semi-hard cheeses and does not require a press.
How to Make Camembert
- 7.6 litres (2 US gal) full cream milk
- ¼ teaspoon Calcium Chloride (if using homogenized milk), dissolved in ¼ cup (60 ml) cool unchlorinated water
- ¼ teaspoon mesophilic direct set starter culture
- 1/8th teaspoon Penicillium candidum
- ¼ teaspoon (2 ml) liquid rennet dissolved in ¼ cup (60 ml) cool unchlorinated water
- Cheese salt
Utensils
- Cheese hoops
- 4 sushi mats
- Stainless steel ladle
- 8 litre stainless steel pot
- Small saucepan to use as a double boiler (as per video)
- Cafe Thermometer
- Curd knife
- Stirring spoon
- Cheese paper/wrap
- Heat the milk to 32°C (90°F), then stir in the starter culture, and the Penicillium candidum. Cover and allow to ripen for 90 minutes.
- Whilst maintaining the target temperature (32°C), add the rennet and stir for two minutes top to bottom. Cover and let sit at target temp for 60 minutes or until you have a clean break.
- Cut the curds into 1.25cm (½”) cubes, and gently stir for 15 minutes at target temp.
- Let curds settle for 15 minutes, maintaining temp, then drain off the whey to the level of the curds using the ladle.
- Place the all four hoops on two of the sushi mats, and gently ladle the curds into the hoops until you reach the top. Cover both pairs with the remaining sushi mats.
- Let drain for one hour at room temperature. As in the video, you will notice a fall in the cheese as the whey expels.
- Flip over the cheese, using the mats, holding top and bottom to ensure that the curd does not come out of the hoops. Make sure the curds do not tear. Flip the cheeses every hour for 5 hours.
- Gently pull off the hoops and lightly sprinkle with cheese salt and gently rub all over, and allow to rest for 10 minutes for the salt to absorb.
- Place cheeses, which will still be on a mat, into your ripening box, and store at 7°C (45°F) at 85 percent humidity, and into your cheese fridge. The normal fridge will work at a pinch, but maturation will be slower and will take usually take about 8 days for the mould to form.
- After 5 days mould should appear on the surface. Turn the cheese over, put back in the ripening box and back into the cheese fridge. Continue to age for another 7 to 10 days. The cheese should have a good layer of mould on the surface.
- Take the cheese out of the ripening box and wrap it in cheese paper/film/wrap. Allow the cheese to continue to mature at 7°C (45°F) for another 3 weeks. Test one cheese to see if it has a mild flavour. If so, then store the remainder at 4°C until consumed. If not, wait another week, as the flavour gets stronger with age.
 |
| Camembert aging in ripening box. |
Tips and Tricks
One point of difference from the video. You may have noticed that I kept filling up the hoops with curd as it drained away. I would not recommend this any more Fill it up once, and maybe top it up once more after 15 minutes, but no more, because the cheese will be too heavy and will collapse in on itself during aging. Get extra cheese hoops if necessary. I was quite lucky that these ones turned out okay.
You must keep the cheese separate from all the other cheeses in your cheese cave. So to do that, you can use something like this nifty two layer box. In the bottom layer, I put a sushi mat and a little bowl of water to increase humidity.
If you can source a fine weave food safe plastic mat, you will find that the cheese will not stick as readily to it, as it may to sushi mats. I find that the plastic stand that I use in my cheese ripening box helps to avoid sticking.
 |
| Camembert in ripening box (top view) |
Drain any water that collects at the bottom of the container, making sure that the cheese does not come in contact with it. The water will inhibit mould growth, which at this stage is a bad thing.
Your cheese should look something like this before you wrap it in cheese film. A consistent white mould all over the cheese. There should be no black mould. If there is, just pick it off with a sterile knife. Don’t wipe with brine or vinegar as this will destroy the white mould layer. Then make sure you use the cheese wrap. It helps to slow the mould so that it doesn’t ripen too quickly. I made it once without the cheese paper, and the Camembert was far too ripe for my tastes.
If aging in a normal kitchen refrigerator, the cheese will take a little longer to form mould and age. Make sure that you check it regularly until you get an even mould all over the surface. Then use cheese wrap as mentioned above. It may take until week 4 to fully mature, but still check at the 3 week mark.
Also, if this cheese is matured above 7°C, the flavour will be overpowering and stink to high heaven! Make sure you keep it below the this temperature.
Summary
Hopefully, I have given you enough information to successfully make Camembert. This cheese is worth the perseverance if you do not get it right the first try. The taste is amazing once you master the skill of making Camembert.
I find I get a more reliable result using Geotrichum candidum in the mix as well (although I’m using sheep’s milk. May help.
Many thanks, Gavin, for your fantastic website and advice….new to cheesemaking and attempting Camembert today and all going well so far….flipping was surprisingly easy just using sushi mats and cake cooling racks, with no sticking or tears….thank you 🙂
Why do recipes for Camembert cheese tell you to salt both sides of the cheese after draining when others say that salt stops the furry white mould from growing?
Hi Karen, Penicillium Candidum is tolerant to salt. It won’t affect the mould bloom.
Gavin,
I have been making camembert for some time now with great success. I am finding the small moulds that I use to be fiddly and not enough for most events where I bring a cheese tray and would like to use a larger mould. My recipe calls for 4 litres of milk and makes 4 small cheeses. I am looking at buying two 180mm hoops. will my recipee work for this or do I need to increase the amount of ingredients?
I might have figured out why your results aren’t consistent. My understanding is that Geotrichium Candidum culture is essential for the flavor, while the Pen. Cand. is what creates the white outer rind. I use both with mesophilic starter and always get great results.
? A couple of days before removing the hoops ? The instructions say flip on the hour for five hours then remove hoops and salt.
I tend to drain a lot longer now which prevents the ‘berts from flattening. It depends on how much whey gets expelled initially in the hoops.
I just made a batch of camembert and maybe have overfilled the molds, as I should have got four cheeses with the batch and only made three. They have collapsed. My question is, are they still ok to continue aging and eating or do I throw them out. It would be good to know at what point the cheese ” mistakes” are just esthetic, or irretreivable.
Hi Kim, Camembert is a fickle cheese. You have to wait for a couple of days before they can be removed from the hoops/moulds before they are fully drained. My first few attempts were just like yours. After a day, they bulged and collapsed. They were a lost cause at this stage. If I had have caught them earlier, I would have broken them up into small pieces, placed them back in the baskets and started again until they formed up.
HI Gavin.
i love your cheese if i lived in Victoria id be in your classes all the time. Simply amazing!!! love your videos Wish you would come to north west tassie and teach!!
Thanks Emi! Unfortunately, the logistics of a travelling cheese making course is beyond my capability which is why I make the cheese making videos on YouTube. 😉
First of all: Thank you for the amazing videos!
I am just about to try cheese making and was wondering what kind of cheese hoops I should buy best?
I found some ranging from 100g, 200g to 1200g of cheese.
Which size can be used best for the majority of your recipes?
Thanks for a reply.
Sophie
Hi Sophie. The 1200g cheese baskets would be best for my 10 litre cheese recipes.
I have a pot of milk warming to make camembert and I was a bit alarmed by your blog post, it all looks so simple on your video. Have you any idea what went wrong with the camemberts that didn’t work?
I overfilled the moulds, and didn’t let them drain long enough. I now let them drain for 24 hours and not the 5 stated in the video. Gav
Hi Gavin, I have been climbing the hierarchy of cheese making via your youtube videos, but my camemberts have collapsed and died, as you alluded to on your website. Perhaps update your youtube video?
Hi, I'm at the point of wrapping my first camembert attempt, & so far, so good! Unfortunately I didn't buy cheese paper ahead of time and I think it really needs to be wrapped now. Do you think I can get away with wrapping it in baking paper, & perhaps a layer of normal foil over that?
Lauren
Hi Gavin,
When ripening the mixture, do you leave the double boiler on in order to maintain the temperature? I have an induction cooktop and it can be quite fiddly to maintain a temperature, any tips?
Thanks, Lauren
Hi Lauren. Once at the target temperature, turn the heat off. The heat from the pot below will suffice during ripening and renneting.
Gav
Thanks for the quick reply Gavin!
Dear Gavin is it possible to use yogurt instead of the mesophilic starter? to make Camembert cheese ?
Hi Dina,
I am afraid that the cultures are not compatible. Yoghurt uses a thermophilic culture and you will not get the same result.
Gav
Dina, An old post.. but maybe comments will help others readers. Gavin’s comment is totally correct. Yoghurt can, however, often be use din lieu of a thermophilic culture. We used very good quality probiotic Nepali yoghurt and developed good Gran Padano with it.
Dear Gavin, I run out of starter and use yogurt instead, but it is still to wet.
I let it drain over night. still wet, what do I have to do? please can you help.
Let it drain for another day, and see if that helps. If nothing else, you will have a tasty soft cheese to consume straight away.
Gav
Hi Gavin!
Thanks for this recipe. I made camembert this weekend. Each day after that I flip it over in my fermentaion box. Yesterday it was a little bit slippery so I decided to wash it with brine. Should it be slippery due to growing mold?
Now I realised that I shouldn't wash it in brine since it prevents mold. Am I right?
Totally right Vladimir. If you add an equal amount of geotrichum to the milk at the same time as the Penicillium Candidum, then you will find that the rind is less slippery and tends to stick better to the cheese.
Gav
I am making my Camembert tomorrow, I would have started to late today. I am glad I waited as I found your post on. Thanks for the tips, I have the perfect container for ripening.
I found a site that has a bunch of ideas on what to do with all the whey (other than ricotta cheese), like homemade stock, powdery mildew, baking bread, amending your soil…
www(dot)farmcurious(dot)com/cheesemaking-what-to-do-with-all-that-whey
Cheers TC. I now save it and either make whey ricotta or feed it to the chooks and gardens.
Gav x
That is so cool Gavin. :-).
Gautam
Thanks Gotty!