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Happy Birthday Camembert

Our Normandy Faculty, Don and Petie Kladstrup celebrate the birth of Camembert.
Very few cheeses have an exact birthdate but camembert is one that does: August 23, 1792. That was when a young priest arrived at the farm of Marie Harel in the village of Camembert. The priest, like others amongst the clergy, was fleeing the forces of the French Revolution who wanted his head. Marie took him in and hid him in a secret room behind her fireplace.

When the neighborhood was calm, the priest sometimes ventured out of his hiding place to watch her make cheese. At one point, Marie offered him some to taste. "Hmmm, not bad," the priest said, adding, however, that the color was bad. It was brownish and off-putting. Marie agreed and said she had been trying all sorts of things to improve the color but nothing had worked. "Where I come from," the priest replied, which happened to be the Brie region, "we mold our cheeses at a steeper angle so they drain better." Marie tried it and, voila! The world's most famous cheese was born.

Nowadays, it is the death of that cheese people worry about. There is only one maker of genuine camembert left. Although the style and name have been copied around the globe, REAL camembert is hard to find. Robert Durand is the one who makes it. He lives in Camembert, along with his thoroughbred Normande cows who graze on grass within the village limits. Instead of sending his milk off to a dairy that is miles away, Durand processes the milk, then molds and finishes his cheese right on his farm. If the grass is fresh, his very contented cows give him enough milk to make 1,000 camemberts a week.

Of course, there are many dairies that come into Camembert and buy milk and blend it to make their own cheeses but it's not the same, say purists. Not that those cheeses aren't delicious but real camembert has to come from Camembert and be made there.

When the not-so-young Durand passes from the scene, so may the last authentic camembert because right now, there is no one in line to replace him.

The village itself, however, will still be there although you may have to search to find it. It is too tiny to be included on most maps. If you succeed in getting there, though, you will also be able to visit Marie Harel's house which only recently has been opened to the public, and see the little room where she hid a priest more than 200 years ago.

Join us for our October PTEE Tour and sample for yourself as we enjoy the delights of both Paris and Normandy

-- Don and Petie Kladstrup are PTEE Faculty living in Paris and Normandy.



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