Camembert Cheese

 
 
 

Vocabulary

 

region	mold (2)	know/knew/known
labor	intensive	come/came/come
crucial	for certain	labor intensive
palace	at least	make/made/made
wide	nutrition	good/better/the best
grass	author	grow/grew/grown (2)
allow	guideline	tasty/tastier/the tastiest
variety	how often	spend/spent/spent (2)
raw	symbol	write/wrote/written
ladle	consists of	dates back to
apart	chamber	forget/forgot/forgotten
scent	ring (3)	worry/worries
ripe	amazing	put/put/put
smell	wooden	keep/kept/kept (2)
scoop	pasture	easy/easier/the easiest
fridge	emperor	eat/ate/eaten
cider	if at all	as little as possible
	originate	see/saw/seen

 
 
 
 
 
 

Video: Camembert Cheese

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Pierre-Brice Lebrun, Camembert Expert: “We don’t exactly know how Camembert originated, but it comes from Normandy. It dates back to the year 1100, so almost a thousand years ago.”

Patrick Mercier, Camembert Producer: “Camembert is a symbol of France. It’s a very special cheese and not easy to make. It’s very labor intensive.”

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

 

Champsecret, Normandy, France

Patrick Mercier, Camembert Producer: “My name is Patrick Mercier. I’m a farmer who started making Camembert ten years ago.

Without happy cows, there’s no good milk — that’s for certain.

The cows are out in the pasture, at least nine months a year. During this time, they are out day and night.

The grass is important for the cow’s nutrition. A wide variety of grass is grown in our pasture: the greater the variety, the tastier the milk.”

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

 
Pierre-Brice Lebrun, Camembert Expert: “There are guidelines for Camembert from Normandy: what the cows are allowed to eat, how long they spend outdoors and how often they are milked.

My name is Pierre-Brice Lebrun. I’m an author, and I’ve written a book about Camembert.”

Patrick Mercier, Camembert Producer: “The Camembert from Normandy is made from raw milk, which we partially skim, otherwise the Camembert becomes too liquid.

This is the most important part of Camembert production. Camembert is made from raw milk, and scooped by hand with a ladle — that’s what makes it so special. We ladle five times, forty-minutes apart. One Camembert consists of two liters of milk.

Today, we’re making nine-hundred of them.

When that’s finished, it’s time to wait.

The next day, we salt the cheese. Without the salt, the typical white, mold ring can’t grow on the Camembert.

Then it goes into the first ripening chamber. The ripening chamber has something magical about it: here you forget all your worries, because you can smell the special scent, which is amazing if you like Camembert.”

After fourteen days, we put the cheese in a wooden box. And we keep it here for another week, until it has finished ripening.”

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

 
Pierre-Brice Lebrun, Camembert Expert: “The box was crucial to the success of Camembert. It made it easier to transport. It arrived in Paris by train, and was eaten there in the Elysee Palace by Emperor Napoleon III.

Camembert should be kept in the fridge as little as possible, if at all. It’s best kept in a dark, cool place. Take it out and hour before you want to eat it.

Camembert is best eaten with bread, and cider from the same region.

When I eat Camembert, I see the cows in front of me. I smell them. You close your eyes, and you are in Normandy.”

Patrick Mercier, Camembert Producer: “Not a day goes by when I don’t eat my own cheese.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

 

Questions

Milk. Camembert cheese originated from the Alps region of France in the 1500s. True or false?

Soft Cheese, Semi-Soft Cheese. Does Patrick whip and chase the dairy cows from horseback? What does he say about his farming methods?

Hard Cheese. The milk cows live in feed lots and are fed GMO soy and corn. Is this right or wrong?

Yogurt. Can the cows that produce milk for Camembert cheese free to go wherever they want, for as long as they want and eat whatever they want, whenever the want and as much as they want?

Dairy Cream. In the video, is the Camembert cheese made by robots in a fully automated processes?

Ice-Cream. The process of turning milk to cheese takes four hours. Is this correct or incorrect?

Kefir. Do salt and the boxes affect the quality of Camembert cheese?

Curds and Whey. Is Patrick is a cattle farmer and Pierre a cheese maker?
 
 
 
Butter. Cheese and other dairy products are very popular in my country. Yes or no? What are the most common or popular cheeses and dairy products?

Honey. How and when do people eat cheese and other dairy products?

Jam, Jelly. Have things been changing over the years?

Ham. Has there been a lot of debate about the healthiness of dairy products? Are dairy products considered healthy, unhealthy, both, in the middle, it depends?

Wine. What might happen in the future?

Peanut Butter. Is there a big (potential) market for cheese and other dairy products, or is the market saturated?