Fact sheet
Already a feature of Charlemagne’s table, this famous cheese from the “Pays de Brie” was acclaimed the “king of cheeses” at a sumptuous dinner hosted by Talleyrand during the Congress of Vienna in June 1815.
The Brie de Meaux is a soft cheese made from raw cow’s milk with a white downy mould rind (45% fat), occasionally with small reddish striations. It has the shape of a flat cylinder (36 to 37 cm diameter and 2.5 to 3 cm thick), and the weight varies from 2.5 to 3 kg.
Because of its smooth, pliable centre, which is creamy and mild, enhanced by a slight hazelnut flavour, devoted fans classify it as a “cheese patisserie”.
Of the various varieties of Brie (brie from Melun, farmhouse brie, brie from Nangis, brie from Montereau, brie from Provins, etc.), Brie de Meaux remains the most famous.
Production and consumption
Prepared exclusively from raw cow’s milk, 25 litres of milk are required to make Brie and it is still subject to certain requirements. The milk must be heated to a temperature not exceeding 37°C so as to avoid destroying the natural bacterial flora found in the milk and the curdling produced by the rennet. The moulding must be done manually, using a “Brie shovel” and the salting is done with dry salt, which prohibits Pasteurization, machine moulding and brine salting. One week after being made, the refiner is responsible for “bringing” the cheeses to the highest level of quality. Depending on the season and the hygrometric level, it takes six to eight weeks to obtain a top quality cheese. The AOC Brie de Meaux certification is given to a cheese made at least four weeks previously and by traditional methods. The normal production season runs from July to March.
With AOC certification since August 1980, its production area stretches to the East from the Paris basin (all of the Seine-et-Marne department plus part of the Marne, Haute-Marne, Aube, Yonne, Loiret and Meuse departments).
In 2009, French production (representing 6 industrial producers and cooperatives, 6 refiners, 1 farm producer, 400 milk producers) came to 6 475 tons, against 7 488 tons in 2001 (with 8 industrial producers and cooperatives, 1 farm producer, 672 milk producers), which represents a 13.5% decrease.
(Sources: Union syndicale interprofessionnelle de défense du brie de Meaux, Confrérie du brie de Meaux)
At Rungis Market
“We are refiners and we sell Brie de Meaux from the AOC area,” explains Gérard Gratiot, manager of Gratiot Père et Fils. “In 2009, refining represented 82.5 tons. We mainly supply dairy-cheesemongers from France, the EU (Belgium, Germany, Italy, Holland, England) and from Japan, by plane every week.”
