Camembert is an endangered species! It relies on a mold that had lost the ability to reproduce sexually... and now, thanks to inbreeding, this mold has also lost the ability to reproduce using spores. Roquefort is also in trouble, but for Camembert it's worse:
"The world over, this other symbol of French gastronomy is inoculated exclusively with one single strain of Penicillium camemberti, a white mutant that was selected for Brie cheeses in 1898 and Camemberts in 1902.
The problem is that ever since then the strain has been replicated by vegetative propagation only. Until the 1950s, Camemberts still had grey, green or in some cases orange-tinged moulds on their surface. But the industry was not fond of these colours, considering them unappealing, and staked everything on the albino strain of P. camemberti, which is completely white and moreover has a silky texture. This is how Camembert acquired its now-characteristic pure white rind.
Year after year, generation after generation, the albino strain of P. camemberti, which was already incapable of sexual reproduction, lost its ability to produce asexual spores. As a result it is now very difficult for the entire industry to obtain enough P. camemberti spores to inoculate their production of the famous Norman cheese.
Worse still, while the Roquefort PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) standard retains a degree of microbial biodiversity, the PDO specifications for Camembert require farmers and other producers to use P. camemberti exclusively."
What to do about it? Switch to eating American cheese, or Velveeta? Read on....
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If you have leftover cheese from the holiday season and want to free up some refrigerator space, you may be able to find it a new home in your freezer. Here's Epicurious's guide to what you can freeze, what you can't and how to do it without sacrificing flavor. Tangentially related, but really we're just being nosy: Which country do you think makes the best cheese? Tell us in the comments what's on your dream cheeseboard.
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Roquefort and Camembert could be at risk of "extinction," according to France's Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), thanks to a lack of genetic diversity in the microbes essential to their production. What could save the dairy? Allowing sexual reproduction of the micro-organisms would make them more robust, but potentially create more diversity of flavor. Here's more from CNRS News.
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Cheese, beautiful cheese, especially if it's the king of cheese!! Featured are two huge wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, photographed at the factory in Modena, Italy.
Cheeses & cured meats display case at famed Giuseppe Giusti in Modena, Italy. This store was founded in 1605 and is a top purveyor of fine meats, cheeses and wines