Brillat-Savarin

Appearance & taste

Brillat-Savarin is a regular cylinder with a straight or slightly concave side and flat faces. Small formats measure 6 to 10 cm in diameter, are 3 to 6 cm high and weigh at least 100 g; large ones measure 11 to 14 cm, are 4 to 7 cm high and weigh at least 500 g. The cheese contains at least 72 % fat in dry matter and less than 2 % salt. When it is sold in pieces, it is cut into sectors through the centre of the cylinder.

The paste is fine, homogeneous and very smooth, the texture melting and creamy. Aromas of cream or fresh butter dominate; the taste is slightly salty and slightly acidic, of milk. Cheese labelled “affiné” (ripened) has a white to ivory mould rind on which Penicillium candidum or Geotrichum predominates, and develops aromas of mushrooms and undergrowth with fruity or hazelnut nuances.

Production

Whole cow’s milk is used, collected no more than two days after the oldest milking and processed no later than two days after receipt without deep-freezing. The cream is obtained only by skimming whole milk; whey cream is prohibited, and the cream may be neither homogenised nor deep-frozen.

Before coagulation the milk matures for a long time at a low temperature so that it acidifies properly; according to the specification, this is where the notes of cream and butter come from. The curd is formed by rennet and acid at the same time. It is low in minerals and, because of the added fat, particularly fragile and must be handled carefully. Draining and drying determine the texture and shape. If the cheese is to ripen, it is turned and sorted; the ventilation and temperature of the ripening room are adjusted to each batch. All steps from mixing the cream and milk to the end of drying or ripening take place in the area.

Origin & history

According to the specification, soft cheese made from a mainly lactic curd has been produced in the area since the Middle Ages; the technique suited the daily routine of the Cistercian monasteries. In the 17th and 18th centuries farmers’ wives on mixed farms passed on the method with its long coagulation and spontaneous draining. From the 19th century the fat content was increased by adding cream: in Brie with the cream left over from making the cheese of the same name, in the Burgundian part with cream from neighbouring regions.

The name was given in the early 1930s by the Parisian cheese master Henri Androuët in honour of Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, author of the “Physiologie du Goût” (The Physiology of Taste), published in 1830. The cheese dairies in the area have marketed their cheese under this name since the 1960s; in the 1970s production grew strongly. According to the specification, around 30 % is exported, mainly to Germany, Belgium, England and North America.