Ledger / 1–4 weeks
Soft ripened
Surface-ripened from the outside in. The rind is the engine; the paste is what it leaves behind.
Crescenza: A Rindless Soft Cheese With No Rind to Fail
7 days pH 5.2 62% moisture 1.0 kg press 1.2% dry salt
Crescenza has no rind, no wash and no cave. It is eaten between day three and day ten, and it is the easiest soft cheese to make at home because there is nothing to get wrong on the surface. The one thing that matters is the drain, and the one thing that ruins it is a warm kitchen.
Crottin de Chavignol: An Eighteen-Hour Lactic Set in Small Moulds
14 days pH 4.4 70% moisture 0 kg press 2.2% dry salt
Goat milk sets to a lactic curd that is far more fragile than a cow-milk one and cannot be cut at all. It goes into small moulds as a liquid and drains by gravity for eighteen hours. The whole character of the cheese comes from that slow drain and the ash-thin rind that follows.
Camembert: A Ladled Curd, a Dry Surface, and Three Weeks of Patience
21 days pH 4.6 68% moisture 0 kg press 2.0% dry salt
Camembert is not a pressed cheese and should never see a follower. The curd goes into the moulds by the ladle, in four passes ninety minutes apart. Almost every failure at home traces back to a surface that was too wet when the white mould was supposed to take it.
Valençay: Sixteen Hours of Drain and the Pyramid That Sags
24 days pH 4.4 68% moisture 0 kg press 2.1% dry salt
The truncated pyramid is a moulding problem, not a shaping one. The curd is ladled in at a consistency that barely holds a peak, and it drains into the shape rather than being pressed into it. Attempting to knock the top flat with a knife is what produces the crumbly, short Valençay you see at markets outside France.
Chaource: Cream Added, Rennet Cut Back, and a Cylinder That Holds
28 days pH 4.55 70% moisture 0 kg press 2.0% dry salt
Double-cream soft cheese fails for a boring reason: too much rennet for the amount of fat in the vat. Fat dilutes the casein, so the same dose that sets a whole-milk Camembert sets a cream-enriched milk into something tough. This record cuts the rennet and lengthens the set.
Reblochon: A Mixed Culture, a Warm Cave, and a Thin Orange Skin
28 days pH 5.6 56% moisture 3.0 kg press 16% brine
Reblochon ripens warmer than almost any other washed-rind cheese, at 13-15 C, which is why it is ready in four weeks instead of eight. The mixed meso/thermo culture is what keeps it from turning bitter at that temperature, and the thin rind is a function of the wash strength.
Sainte-Maure: A Log of Goat Curd, Ash, and a Straw Through the Middle
28 days pH 4.35 64% moisture 0 kg press 2.0% dry salt
The straw is not decoration. A rye straw pushed through the log holds it in shape while the curd is still soft and lets air reach the centre so the log dries evenly from the inside out. Without it, the middle sours and the ends dry hard.
Taleggio: Salting in 18% Brine and Washing the Rind Every Second Day
35 days pH 5.7 58% moisture 2.0 kg press 18% brine
Taleggio is a square, lightly pressed, washed-rind soft cheese. The wash is what does the work, and the schedule matters more than the strength: every second day for the first three weeks, then every fourth day. Miss a wash in week two and the orange coat stalls.
Brie-Style: Large Format, Slow Drain, and Why Thin Is Harder
42 days pH 4.7 66% moisture 0 kg press 20% brine
A 30 cm brie and a 10 cm Camembert are the same recipe at different scales, and the large one is easier. It ripens more evenly and it does not go over the edge the day after it is ready. If your Camembert keeps turning to ammonia, make it wider instead.