by When Napoleon came across Camembert cheese for the first time, the story goes, he was so delighted that he kissed the waiter who put it in front of him. Putting aside the inappropriateness of this gesture, the French emperor clearly recognized a winner.
Appearing in various forms in the northwestern French region of Normandy since at least the 18th century, the cheese – creamy, pungent and gooey – is now a French favorite.
That’s why recent headlines about the imminent demise of Camembert due to a fungal crisis have caused panic among fans of this historic cheese. Scientists have warned that problems with French industrial cheese production could have long-term consequences for its future.
Alarm was raised in January when a recent study by scientists at the University of Paris-Saclay identified that the main fungus used to create Camembert and other cheeses was becoming increasingly scarce due to the industrial production methods used to keep up with demand.
And while that may spell trouble for the variety of dairy offerings, some are assuming this means poor Camembert – sold by hand in its own wooden box – is headed for the grave.
“Blue cheeses may be under threat, but the situation is much worse for Camembert, which is already on the verge of extinction,” the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) said in a report on the findings. Elsewhere, another headline warned of an impending “cheese crisis”, adding, “say a prayer for Camembert!”
The cheese posts couldn’t be higher. Next to the Louvre, haute couture and the Eiffel Tower, Camembert is a national treasure that is admired around the world – as real to the French as eternity.
“What is the typical image of France? A bottle of red wine, a baguette and Camembert,” says Anne-Marie Cantin, veteran cheesemonger and president judge of France’s 2023 national Camembert competition. “It’s our national cheese.”
Old model
At the heart of the problem is Penicillium camemberti, a cheese-making fungus that gives Camembert its white rind and helps develop the cheese’s rich, buttery umami flavor and its distinct taste of unwashed socks.
P. camemberti, say the scientists from Paris-Saclay, has problems with reproduction, mainly as a result of the pressure of industrial production. Not so much a performance concern per se, but a consequence of the asexual cultivation process of fungi which, due to a severe lack of genetic diversity, is running on empty.
Camembert, and similar cheeses like Brie, were once aged in caves or hâloirs (drying rooms), where naturally occurring mold spores gave them blue or sometimes yellow-brown rinds. At the turn of the last century, Penicillium camemberti was introduced, replacing the native mold and creating the uniform white rinds we know today.
“It is thought to be a white mutant that was selected from the gray-green species Penicillium commune for its color at the beginning of the 20th century,” the Paris-Saclay study said.
Unfortunately, unlike their cave-dwelling fungal counterparts, the researchers found that Penicillium camemberti has very low genetic diversity and a reduced ability to reproduce sexually.
“Our findings raise questions about the use of a limited number of clonal strains to make cheese, leading to deterioration, which limits the possibilities for further improvement,” the study said.
That means, according to the CNRS report, “it is now very difficult for manufacturers to obtain sufficient quantities of P. camemberti spores to inoculate their Normandy cheese production.”
Fall and rise
This is not the first time that Camembert has faced a crisis after the introduction of P. camemberti. According to the late Patrick Lance, a British cheese expert who authored the definitive guide to French cheese, the industrialization and conflict of the last century almost ended.
“Two world wars and too much big business almost brought Camembert to the grave, except in name,” he wrote in his definitive 1989 book “The French Cheese Book”.
“And this name has been brought into contempt because of the failure to protect it against the many pasteurized factory distortions of the formula, which were carried out throughout almost all of France and abroad.
To the rescue, in 1982, came the status of Appellation d’origine protégée (AOP), which meant that only cheeses made in Normandy could carry the name Camembert. However, that didn’t stop further tussles over whether real Camembert should be made with raw or pasteurized milk.
Those who have experienced the ups and downs of Camembert in the past seem to be taking the latest cheese problem head on.
“My family has been making Camembert since 1891, five generations… I’ve never heard of this situation before,” Bruno Lefèvre, director general of Les fromageries de Normandie, a regional cheesemakers’ association, told CNN.
“It’s true that cheese makers fought battles against cheese that didn’t look white,” said Lefèvre, adding that the first batches of Camembert made by his father, more than 50 years ago, were “blue, white and red. “
But from his understanding, the color difference is the result of bacterial pigmentation.
“It’s linked to this type of bacteria called Brevibacterium linensis, which has the ability to make an orange pigment. It is not the result of any fungal activity,” said Lefèvre.
France is currently hosting its annual cheese fair in Paris, gathering major cheese makers from all over the country. Of course, the fading fungus is a topic that has been discussed a lot. Lefèvre said the people he spoke to were confused about where the fear about Camembert’s future came from.
“I’ve made all kinds of Camembert, from more traditional ones to more industrial ones, I’ve never encountered issues with my fungus,” said Lefèvre.
“This study has been widely reported in the media. “Maybe the researchers were trying to scare us cheesemakers, but so far they haven’t succeeded,” he said.
Although the scientists stood by their claims, they emphasize that there is no danger of Camembert disappearing anytime soon. “We always tell journalists that there is no short-term danger to Camembert production,” researcher Tatiana Giraud told CNN. “What our article says is that beginners are highly homogenized and this reduces their ability to adapt, nothing else.”
American cheese connection
Of course, if Camembert is kept alive, it means that the story of the cheese is also kept alive. Another French cheese-making base is thought to have been first created by a Norman woman named Marie Harel on tips from a refugee priest from Brie. Having found favor with Napoleon, he took an unexpected role in the First World War, which is commemorated with a statue.
An American built the Harel monument in the town of Vimoutiers in Normandy, according to Camembert expert Anne-Marie Cantin.
“An American doctor first came to Normandy after the First World War trying to find Marie Harel’s tomb and then build a statue of her,” she said.
“To the surprise of the locals, who had difficulty finding someone who spoke English, he explained that he had used Camembert during the war to cure patients and that he wanted to come to thank the inventor.”
That statue was later destroyed in 1944 by American bombing during the Normandy landings and it was a group of cheese factory workers from Ohio who donated to build a new one after the war, according to Cantin.
The statue still stands proudly today in the town square of Vimoutiers in Normandy, with a plaque saying it is a gift offered by “400 men and women making cheese in Van Wert, Ohio, USA.”
Another statue of Marie Harel stands back in the Van Wert County Museum in Ohio, quietly reflecting an extraordinary and cheesy relationship between France and the United States.
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