This is a soft cow's milk cheese named after Brie, the French region from which it originated. It is pale in color with a slight grayish tinge under a rind of white mold. The whitish moldy rind is typically eaten, with its flavor depending largely upon the ingredients used and its manufacturing environment.
Brie may be produced from whole or semi-skimmed milk. The curd is obtained by adding rennet to raw milk and warming it to a maximum temperature of 37 °C (99 °F). The cheese is then cast into molds, sometimes with a traditional perforated ladle called a pelle à brie. The 20 cm (8 in) mold is filled with several thin layers of cheese and drained for approximately 18 hours. The cheese is then taken out of the molds, salted, inoculated with cheese mold (Penicillium candidum, Penicillium camemberti) or Brevibacterium linens, and aged in a cellar for at least four or five weeks or even longer for a stronger flavour.
