No, not "the prize" — the price. I just spent a few minutes looking through the on-line offerings of our Saint-Aignan SuperU supermarket to see what is there in the Camembert category. I was not disappointed. I found 40 different Camembert cheeses listed. There are probably even more on the shelves in the store, and they probably cost a little less in the store than on-line. I don't think every product in the store is even available on-line.
Here are just eight Camemberts out of the 40. They cover the price range for such cheeses at SuperU. These first four Camembert cheeses are made from pasteurized milk (lait pasteurisé) and priced at less than two euros apiece.
The next four Camemberts are made with raw (unpasteurized) milk (lait cru) and range in price from 2.50 euros up to 4.60 euros.
I have only ever tried a few of these different Camemberts — Le Rustique, fairly often. Le Président Camembert de Campagne has always been good too. I don't know if I have tried the U Saveurs Camembert de Normandie (2.67€=$3.01US at today's exchange rate) before, but you can bet I'll pick one up when I go to SuperU tomorrow morning — it's an AOP Camembert made from raw, not pasteurized, cow's milk. AOP is the European label of quality and authenticity. I might also have to try the Isigny-Ste-Mère Camembert (3.06€ = $3.45).
So half of the Camemberts listed here are made from pasteurized milk. That doesn't mean they aren't delicious, but the cheese made from raw milk is generally better. Camembert, like Cheddar, was never a "protected" name for cheeses, so Camembert and Cheddar can be made anywhere in the world and called by that name. The protected Camembert de Normandie quality label has existed for nearly 40 years now, and the guidelines for its production are strict: Normandy milk only, unpasteurized, etc. Raw-milk cheeses can't be imported into the U.S., if I understand correctly, unless they've been aged for at least 60 days. Camembert de Normandie is aged for just 22 days before being released for sale.
CHM wrote in a comment yesterday that he had recently bought an American-made Camembert in the U.S. for $16 and change. Highway robbery. Cheeses like Camembert and Brie, like good wines (American or imported) really are treated as luxury items over there, whereas here in France they are everyday staples.
How wonderful! We have such a smaller selection of cheese available. Recently a very nice store - Earth Fare from Ashville, NC, closed all their stores. They had the best cheese selections in our area. Actually one of my daughters and her husband used to go on dates to taste cheeses there and pick some to buy. We do have a few Camembert at the store I usually go to (not so expensive and likely not so excellent as what CHM mentioned) and I cannot recall what we buy, probably not the same every time. You are very lucky!
ReplyDeleteThose cheese dates of your daughter and SIL sound like a really good idea. I buy a lot of different Camemberts too, because they vary so much depending on how ripe they are. I don't assume that one brand is always the best one.
DeleteWe're partial to Lepetit. It's pasteurized milk, but is always ripe, à point.
ReplyDeleteLe camembert d'Isigny est sans doute très bon mais n'est pas un AOP !
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen any imported French Camembert lately at the store. The cheese I bought for $16 the other day was a US made Brie.
ReplyDeleteA few days earlier, while shopping at Harris Teeter, I saw a La Bonne Vie Camembert. First time I ever saw that brand. Didn't say on the box either imported or Product of France. I don't remember how much I paid for it, but it was at least six dollars. To make a long story short, it's the last time I buy anything from that brand. According to their advertisements their cheeses are made in the US, exactly like the $16 Île de France Brie. Harris Teeter advertises the 8.00 oz US made La Bonne Vie Camembert Round at $9.99. Expensive for a product that's not even barely good.
Well, you just can't count on good Camembert or Brie when it's made in the U.S. It's a different world over there. Have a cheeseburger and be happy, I say.
DeleteA propos de cheeseburger... if that cheese you bought is not good, cook it! Melt it over pasta, rice, potatoes, or red beans. That's what I would do with it. Un gratin...
Deletemy favorite cheese and the only one I see sometimes is Le Rustique and it costs about ten bucks so it's a splurge...and nothing made in the US ever compares to the french ones
ReplyDeletePre´sident is a brand I buy sometimes. Walmart carries it even. I almost bought some Camembert in Aldi's yesterday, but the label just said "imported" . I would like to know where it was imported from!
ReplyDeleteI've been enjoying a Président Camembert overthe last 4 or 5 days.
DeleteSo true about the cheese prices here.
ReplyDeleteLike Camembert, which is not an AOP but Camembert de Normandie is, Brie is not an AOP but Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun are. Maybe it was the same issue as with Camembert -- the name was never protected as it could be made anywhere. The same thing happened with Gruyere in Switzerland; eventually they created Le Gruyere as an AOP.
ReplyDeleteThere are some very good cheeses being made throughout the US, mostly by very small producers. And they're very pricey, as are good European cheeses carried by cheese shops here. There's a very good new cheese shop here which carries some of the best European cheeses that can be brought into the country (a lot of them are Alpine-style cheeses, since they are generally well aged and therefore raw milk versions can be imported). But the cost of those cheeses, both imported and domestic, mostly range from almost $30 to $40 per pound. So they're clearly a luxury item. One more reason for visiting France, although the coronavirus may have other ideas about our April visit.
At the local Whole Foods (OKC) we get the Herve Mons Camembert for about $10.99. The trick for any Whole Foods, is to turn the wood carton over and check the sell by date. We try to have 3 weeks left, if possible, otherwise the cheese will be over the hill. Then as soon as we get home we unwrap the paper wrapper and wrap in new wax paper and set the cheese somewhere cool and let ripen for a couple of days. The result is better than many we've had in France. It's all about how long they are wrapped up, as not 'breathing' will ruin the cheese, no matter what cheese store, or grocery store in any country. I can remember a bicycle tour in Normandy, and riding thru the little town of Camembert, and there was a statue to an American women from Ohio(?) somehow connected to cheese making.
ReplyDeleteYes,breathing is important for cheese. Wrapping in plastic is the worst thing for it.
DeleteAs to the American, there's a book about Camembert which I believe I still have but never finished, and I remember something about an American in the village of Camembert.
From what I've just read, the statue mentioned here is not the likeness of an American woman, but of a young French woman who was invited to the U.S. to participate in a fund-raising campaign to help finance reconstruction needed after the Americans bombarded the town of Vimoutiers and village of Camembert during WWII. Workers at the Borden cheese company in Ohio raised funds to have a statue made in the likeness of the young Frenchwoman in her traditional Normandy costume and sent it to Vimoutiers, where it is still on display.
DeleteThanks for the correction and information. We used to order from Fromages.com (French mail order) and they would send raw milk less than 60 day Camemberts that were excellent, until they were 'outed'. Then we quit ordering the Camemeberts, as they over 60 days old wrapped in original paper and not worth it.
DeleteAs far as cheese goes, Trader Joe's has decent prices and selection, but it's all relative. They are nowhere as cheap (probably 3 X) the prices you posted above. And believe me, every time I see wine prices, I think about the two of you trotting off to a vintner to pay a couple euros to fill a large container.
ReplyDeleteJust an aside, but wine prices have really increased here. We now pay about 2.50 euros a liter for good local wines. And it's no longer sold in bulk as it was when we used to take our own containers to the winery and have them filled with wine stored in huge vats. It's sold in bag-in-box packaging, 25 to 30 euros for 10 liters (=13 bottles).
DeleteThis is still much cheaper even than CA, where you need to be over $10-15 for a so-so bottle, 750 ml.
DeleteFor 10 to 15 euros here in France, you can get a fine bottle of Bordeaux, Burgundy, or Chablis. Our local wines, including Chinon, Vouvray, and Bourgueil, go for half that price.
DeleteI want some of those every day staples like bread and cheese and wine and, and, .... 😩
ReplyDelete"We now pay about 2.50 euros a liter for good local wines."
ReplyDeleteThat's less than the tariff I'll be paying on my next purchase of French wine here.
I suspect that chm's high price for so-so cheese is because there are a lot of tariffs on such items, and the current occupant is increasing them. Also, he lives in a rather expensive neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteEons ago, I lived in the Balearics for a time, and we would take our containers down the hill to the wine merchant's and fill from the big casks. Probably plonk, but at something like (if memory serves) 50 pesetas we didn't much care. :-)
Emm, the cheeses I was talking about are all US made, so there is no tariffs on them. But the Orange menace is stupid enough to put some kind of tariffs on American made products, and have the Mexicans pay for that!
DeleteChm, the Mexicans wouldn't be able to afford such tariffs. They're maxed out having paid for The Wall.
DeleteLOL!
DeleteAccording to Stanford Medical, It is really the one and ONLY reason women in this country get to live 10 years longer and weigh 19 kilos less than we do.
ReplyDelete(And realistically, it is not related to genetics or some secret-exercise and EVERYTHING around "how" they eat.)
BTW, What I said is "HOW", not "WHAT"...
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Le rustique is our favorite pasteurized milk camembert as it's really tasty!
ReplyDelete