Brie & Brie de Meaux

People often ask us why our French Brie is so much more expensive than some of the Brie they can get in the supermarket and the answer is simple, our French Brie is Brie de Meaux. The French have been making Brie since some time around the 8th century in the region of Brie just east of Paris and our Brie is made in the village of Meaux within that region. It is one of 12 Bries produced in the region, others you may have heard of include Brie de Melun, Brie de Bresse and Brie de Nangis.

Brie de Meaux is an AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégée), Protected Designation of Origin which means there are strict rules and regulations around the production of it. First of all, it must be made using raw milk, if you want to make it using pasteurised milk you must drop the name of the village and simply call it Brie. Secondly, it must never be made into a double cream or triple cream cheese by the addition of extra cream, there are several Brie style cheeses in this style, Delice de Bourgogne, Chaorce, Delice de Cremier to name just a few. Thirdly, Brie de Meaux can not be sold before it has aged for a minimum of 28 days. Some Affineurs will age it a little longer to full maturity and after 8 weeks it will start to break down and become amonious.

Brie de Meaux is characterised by its bloomy off-white rind, thick with penicillium mould and stands out a mile from the pure white, pastuerised, industrially produced varieties of Brie you find in the supermarkets. Brie de Meaux is a Brie, but Brie is not Brie de Meaux.

It’s a cheese that stands on its own and needs little to accompany it, although slices of fresh apple and pear do go quite nicely. When it comes to wine, I would recommend red, something light but fruit driven, ideally from the Loire or Beaujolais regions. If you’re a white wine drinker, avoid minerally, citrussy whites as they can cause a metallic taste on the palate when consumed with the Brie de Meaux.