Camembert is a delicious, soft spreadable cheese that’s easy to make at home. Our Camembert Cheese Molds make flipping the cheese easy and fool-proof. With just a few ingredients and a gallon of milk from the grocery store, you too can have tasty, home-made cheese!
Ingredients and Equipment
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This recipe uses 1 gallon of milk to make 2 four-inch wide Camembert Cheeses.
- 1 Gallon of Milk
- 1/4 tsp Calcium Chloride
- A Camembert Cheese starter like this OR measure out your own with these ingredients:
- 1/2 Packet C21 Buttermilk Culture
- 1/64 tsp Geotrichum Candidum
- 1/16 tsp Penicillium Candidum
- 1/8 tsp Rennet
- 2 tsp Kosher Salt
In addition to 2 of our Camembert Cheese Molds, you will also need:
- Something to sanitize your equipment with, like Star San. While you can use the dishwasher to sterilize some of your equipment, DO NOT use that method for your cheese mold.
- A pot large enough to hold 1 gallon of milk
- A way to warm the milk. A sink filled with warm water that’s big enough to hold your pot will do. We use a griddle mat that evens out the heat from our pancake griddle. You can also get fancy and use a sous vide set-up.
- A cheese laddle
- A kitchen thermometer, such as a candy thermometer or an instant-read thermometer
- A set of teaspoons
- Measuring cups
- A large spatula or curd cutter.
- A sushi mat to dry the cheese on (optional)
- A Tupperware container with an inside area of at least 4 x 8 x 3 inches
- A gadget to monitor temperature and humidity is helpful
Step 1: Warm the Milk
Start by pouring both gallons of milk into your pot. Heat the milk up to 90F (32C).
Step 1: Acidify the Milk
It’s important to add the ingredients in order for this step. First, add 2 mL (1/2 tsp) of Calcium Chloride to your milk. If you’re lucky enough to be using farm-fresh milk you can skip this, but anyone using pasteurized milk from the grocery store will need to do this. Spend a couple minutes stirring to make sure it’s evenly distributed. Next, add your cultures (of the cheese starter). Let the powders sit on top of the milk for 2 minutes to re-hydrate, then stir them into the milk using an up-and-down motion.
Once you’re satisfied that the powder is thoroughly mixed in, put the lid on your pot and let it sit. You want to keep it at 90F (32C) for 30 minutes. Use your thermometer and refresh the hot water in the sink, or adjust the power level on your heat source if necessary.
Step 2: Form the Curds
Time to coagulate those curds! Mix 6 mL (1/8 tsp) Rennet into 1/4 cup distilled water. Slowly pour this over your cheese ladle, moving it as you do so. Stir your cheese for a couple minutes to make sure the rennet is distributed evenly. Put the top on the pot and keep it warm for 90 minutes. Make sure not to disturb the pot while the curds are setting! Taking temperature readings is OK, but don’t stir the curds during this time.
Step 3: Add the Curds to the Molds
If you haven’t already, go ahead and sanitize your cheese molds, including the lids and stands. Remember NOT to put your molds in the dishwasher! They are made of plastic, after all, and will deform at high temperatures. Instead, use a sanitizing spray like Star San. Screw a lid on one end of each mold, and place the molds in their draining stands. A lot of whey will be coming out, so make sure you put the molds somewhere that won’t be a problem. We put our molds in a cookie tray and drained it occasionally; you can also put them right in the sink.
Cut the curds into large 1-2 inch cubes and let them sit for 5 minutes; this will start releasing some of the whey. Give them a gentle stir, and then start spooning the curds into the molds (I use a measuring cup to transfer the curds). Not all the curds will fit in the molds at first, but don’t worry! Continue to top off the molds every 10 to 15 minutes until you’ve used up all the curds. Be patient; this will take about an hour.
Step 4: Drain the Curds
This is where our Camembert Cheese Mold comes in really handy. After you’ve gotten all the curds into the molds, let them sit another 20-30 minutes and then screw the lids on to the top of the molds. Gently filp the molds over, unscrew what is now the top, and replace the molds in their stands. For the first hour, flip the cheese every 15 minutes. After that, flip a couple times every 30 minutes, then every hour, until it’s time for bed. Let the cheese drain overnight. Try to keep your cheese warm during this process.
Step 5: Add Salt
By Day 2, your cheese should shrunk down to be about 1/3 of the height of the mold. Leave the cheeses sitting in their molds and carefully unscrew the main mold part to reveal the cheese. Dust the tops of the cheeses with 1/2 tsp kosher salt each. Slide the main part of the mold back down over the cheese; this will help it keep its shape as the salt penetrates and the whey continue to be released. After 4-6 hours, flip the cheese and salt the other sides–you can use just the top and bottom of the molds to easily flip the cheese over. Throughout the day you’ll want to flip the cheeses another time or two, allowing another 4-6 hours between flipping. Flip them a final time before you go to bed.
Step 6: Dry the Camembert Cheese
The cheeses are finally ready to be removed from their molds! On the morning of Day 3, remove the cheese from their molds and put them on some sushi mats to dry. They should continue to be flipped every few hours–you don’t want them sinking into the mats. After 36 hours of air drying, our cheese was ready to go to the next step. Depending on your local humidity, this may take a little longer or shorter. Be patient and allow the surface of the cheese to dry before continuing–you don’t want undesirable molds to gain a hold on your nice cheese.
Step 7: Wait for the Surface Mold to Grow
Now it’s time to start growing that nice rind that Camembert cheese has. Ideally, it would be somewhere with 92-95% humidity and a temperature around 52-56F (11-13C). We got somewhere close to that using a Tupperware container and some cold packs. A damp paper towel inside the container kept the humidity up, and the cold packs helped keep the container about 10 degrees colder than the room temperature. Continue to flip your cheese once or twice a day during the aging period.
Over the first few days, you might notice your cheeses become slippery and smells like ripe fruit. This is the yeast growth stage. After that, your cheese will start developing a fuzzy white coat as the P.Candidum mold becomes active. By day number 9, our cheese was covered with it’s white coat and ready to be moved to the next stage. It may take a little longer at cooler temperatures.
Step 8: Final Ripening
Move the cheese to your aging area and let it continue to age until the desired level. Ideally, the cheese would age at 42-45F (5-7C) for a month or two. If you’re lucky enough to have a dedicated fridge for aging cheese, that would be perfect. A wine fridge be the next best choice. We kept our cheese in a Tupperware container in the fridge, which is a little colder than ideal, but still did the job; it just took a little longer to age. Continue to flip the cheese once a day.
After 10 weeks, the rind on our cheese had developed brown spots around the edges and the cheese had a deflated look to it. That’s when it’s ready to eat!
Step 9: Enjoy Your Camembert Cheese!
Break out some crackers and fix yourself a snack–you’ve earned it!
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