Brie and Camembert are two of the most prominent French cheeses, both internationally and in local markets, with 8.7 million French people stating that they consumed the cheeses “several times a week” in 2023. However, these cheeses as we now know them could soon go extinct, said researchers Jeanne Ropars and Tatiana Giraud at France’s national research institute CNRS.
The strain of fungi used to ferment these cheeses, an albino strain of penicillium camemberti, is what gives them their characteristic flavour and snowy white crust. This strain, however, has been repeatedly cloned on a large scale since it was first used to make Camembert wheels. As a result, the genetic makeup of the fungus has remained the same since it was first discovered in 1898. This means that the albino penicillium camemberti has not been able to naturally develop its immune system to the modern world’s diseases, and Ropars and Giraud estimate that the strain could go extinct as soon as within the next decade.
However, this does not mean that Brie and Camembert would cease to exist. Before the discovery of the albino penicillium camemberti, the cheeses were allowed to ferment naturally rather than being inoculated with a certain strain of fungi in a strictly controlled environment. Ropars and Giraud suggest that if we were to go back to the cheese fermenting methods that were prevalent in the early 19th century, we might be able to kickstart the sexual reproduction process for fungi to help them develop a stronger immunity for a changing environment.
These cheeses will not resemble their modern cottony-white versions, but will have a range of colourful crusts — blue, green, maybe even orange.
Given a choice between funky, colourful cheeses or no cheese at all, what would you choose?