PARIS — French cheese connoisseurs want everyone who loves the country’s culinary heritage to hear their anguished, almost unimaginable cry: Boycott French Camembert.
Because soon enough, they warn, that creamy, pungent icon of France will give way to a tasteless paste masquerading as the real thing. Beginning in 2021, Camembert made from pasteurized milk, in factories, will be labeled in a way that has only been allowed for artisanal cheese made in the time-honored, more expensive way — by hand, using raw milk.
More than 40 leading French chefs, winemakers, and cheese ripeners signed an open letter, published on Tuesday in the daily Libération, denouncing this apostasy and calling on President Emmanuel Macron to put a stop to it. Without separate designations to signal to consumers, they predicted, raw milk Camembert will become increasingly rare — a niche, luxury product available only to a select few.
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