Key takeaways
- Both are soft, creamy cow's milk cheeses from France with a white rind you can eat.
- Brie comes from the Brie region east of Paris. Camembert comes from Normandy.
- Some are protected by name: Brie de Meaux, Brie de Melun and Camembert de Normandie.
- The plain names aren't protected, so you will also find Brie-style and Camembert-style cheeses made elsewhere.
Soft cheeses with a white rind
Brie and Camembert are French, soft, creamy cheeses made from cow's milk. Both are bloomy-rind cheeses: a white, powdery rind forms on the outside as the cheese ripens, and the inside turns soft and creamy. The rind is edible and part of the flavor.
How the white rind forms
Bloomy-rind cheeses are mold-ripened. During cheesemaking a mold culture is introduced to the surface, and it becomes the white rind. For Brie and Camembert it is usually Penicillium candidum, which is harmless and gives the cheese its clean white look. As it feeds on the proteins in the cheese it also produces a little ammonia, which is why Brie can smell of ammonia if it can't breathe.
Where they come from
Brie is named for the Brie region, east of Paris. Camembert comes from the village of Camembert in Normandy. The story goes that in 1791 a farmer named Marie Harel hid a priest from the town of Brie during the Revolution, and that he shared cheesemaking tips with her, which led to Camembert as we know it. Camembert's wooden box was invented in 1890 by an engineer named M. Ridel, so that the cheese could travel longer distances.
What the protected names mean
Three of these cheeses have a protected designation of origin, called AOP in French (formerly AOC): Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun, made from raw milk in the Brie region, and Camembert de Normandie, made from raw milk in Normandy. The plain words "Brie" and "Camembert" are not protected, so you will find them made in many other places, often labeled Brie-style or Camembert-style. What DOP, PDO and AOP mean on a label explains what that guarantees.