To release the full potential of Gillot Camembert de Normandie, it is better to pick bread with a mild flavour and crunchy crust to bring out the creaminess of the cheese, and what could be simpler than a traditional well-cooked leavened baguette!
“Pain brie”, a traditional Normandy bread, would be perfect with Pont l’évêque.
Bloomy-rind cheeses (Brie, Camembert de Normandie…) also go perfectly with slices of apple or pear, as well as apricot and basil.
Gingerbread would also go quite nicely, or you could jazz up your platter with some dry fruits such as walnuts or fresh grapes in the autumn, apple and thyme jelly or cider jelly…
Add some pepper to your Camembert de Normandie before serving; this will bring out the flavours
The famous rule of combining products from the same region is indeed the golden rule.
Regional blend: Pays d’Auge farm cider, PDO, dry
The blend of Gillot Camembert with the sweetness of the apple and the refreshing bubbles of the cider brings out a very interesting aromatic note.
The historical blend: The traditional red wine
For red wine lovers, go for a low tannin wine made with Gamay grapes, Beaujolais or Saint-Emilion, a velvety, round, fruity, light wine (6-7 years old).
The original, surprising blend: Champagne
With Camembert, the blend is even more surprising. Its key asset remains its effervescence which generates a feeling of freshness compared with traditional wines.
Yvon Lebailly, sommelier at the “Manoir du Lys” (4-star Hotel – Gourmet Restaurant in Bagnoles de l’Orne)
Cheese maturation is essential to bring the cheese to optimal maturity. Soft cheeses mature from the outside inwards as the surface flora is active and so begin soft and smooth on the outside.
The maturation period of the cheese is from 4 to 12 weeks.
If you have a cellar, you can keep your cheese to mature. It will also keep very well in a plastic bag or tea towel in the vegetable drawer at the bottom of your fridge.
You can extend the maturation period according to your tastes and desires.
It is the unrivalled king of the cheese platter throughout the year but is at its best in the spring when the flavour of the milk is much better. The peak tasting season for Camembert is from March to June.
Why does cheese vary from season to season?
The taste of the cheese depends on the milk used to make it and the taste of the milk is closely linked to what the animals eat. So, a cheese made from milk produced by a cow that has spent the summer out in the meadows grazing fresh grass will have a different flavour from a cheese made with milk from a cow that has been fed hay in a barn.
Camembert, a bloomy-rind cheese, has a lower fat content (300 kcal for 100 g) than hard cheese as it contains more water.
Just over two litres of milk are needed to make a Camembert. It is a great source of calcium (300 mg/100 g) as well as phosphorus, essential to growth, and vitamins A and B2.