Ledger / Soft ripened / 2026-10-11
Chaource: Cream Added, Rennet Cut Back, and a Cylinder That Holds
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.
Each segment is as wide as its share of the 290 minutes in the vat; the set segment carries the set temperature, the cut segment carries the cut size.
Salt and press drawer
Press ladder
Penicillium candidum sprayed or dusted on, then 90% RH at 11-13 C until the white felt is complete.
Cream in, rennet down, set long
Add cream to bring the vat to 5.5% fat, roughly 60 ml of 35% cream per litre of 3.5% milk. Then 0.7% mesophilic culture at 30 C, ninety minutes of ripening, and only 18 IMCU of rennet per litre.
Set for ninety minutes. The flocculation point will be around twelve minutes rather than the eight you may be used to. If it sets in under an hour at this dose, your rennet is stronger than labelled: dilute it and start again.
Cut at 30 mm and drain without pressing
Cut into 30 mm pieces and stir for twenty minutes at 30 C, with no cook at all. Then ladle into 11 cm cylindrical moulds lined with draining cloth, in two passes an hour apart. Total drain three hours.
No press and no weight. A cream-enriched curd that is pressed loses its fat into the cloth and the resulting cheese is dry and short rather than melting.
Salt dry at 2%, on all faces
Turn the cylinders out after three hours and salt all faces at 2% of the cheese weight. Stand them on a rack at 14 C and 65% RH for twenty-four hours, turning once.
The salt has to reach the sides as well as the top and bottom. A cylinder salted only on the flat faces has a pale, under-salted band around its middle, and that band is where the rind will fail first.
Four weeks at 11 C, and eat it cold
Age at 11 C and 90% RH for four weeks, turning every second day. The white coat is complete by day nine. At two weeks the paste under the rind is still firm; at four weeks it is soft but not runny, which is the correct texture for a double-cream.
Serve it straight from the fridge. A double-cream brie served at room temperature loses its shape within ten minutes; Chaource is designed to be eaten cool, when the cream is still holding everything together.
Aging parameters
| Milk | Pasteurised cow milk 3.5% fat |
|---|---|
| Culture | Mesophilic 20–30 °C |
| Rennet | Calf rennet (animal) 18 IMCU/L |
| pH at drain | 4.55 target 6.1–6.5 |
| Target moisture | 70 % |
| Cave temperature | 11 °C |
| Cave humidity | 90 % |
| Aging days | 28 days |
| Rind treatment | Bloomy rind (sprayed) |
| Yield | 1.7 kg |
Pasteurised cow milk Soft ripened 28 days
Defect diagnosis
Flagged on this make: Rancidity、Bitterness
Bitterness seen this make
Signal — A harsh, lingering bitter note at the back of the palate, strongest in the first three weeks and often fading after six.
Cause — Too much rennet for the set time, or a microbial coagulant with high protease activity, or a scald that never got past 38 C.
Fix — Cut the dose by 20% next make and hold the scald 2 C higher for 10 minutes longer. Bitter peptides are water-soluble, so a 12% brine for 24 hours pulls some out.
Rancidity seen this make
Signal — Soapy, paint-like smell that hits before the cheese reaches the mouth. Sharp and unpleasant rather than merely strong.
Cause — Free fatty acids released by lipase, usually from raw milk that sat warm too long, or from rennet paste, or from a knife or cloth that carried old milk residue.
Fix — Chill milk to 4 C within two hours of milking and pasteurise anything older than 24 hours. Retire the cloth: boil it, do not just rinse it.
Faulty eye formation not seen
Signal — Either no eyes where the style demands them, or a scatter of irregular slits and cracks instead of round, evenly spaced holes.
Cause — Coliform or yeast contamination from unsanitary brine, or a press that was too cold (below 18 C) so the propionic culture never woke up, or too much salt killing it outright.
Fix — Boil and re-salt the brine to 18-20% between batches, press at 20-22 C for the first six hours, and keep the salt under 1.6% for eye-forming styles.
Misread surface mould not seen
Signal — A grey-green or black fuzzy patch on a rind that was supposed to be white or orange, or blue speckling on a hard cheese.
Cause — Wild Penicillium and Cladosporium from a cave with moving air and standing humidity. Also from brushing a good rind with a damp, dirty brush.
Fix — Distinguish before you discard: white felt and orange smear are wanted, green fuzz on a hard rind is surface only and rubs off with 3% brine. Black patches that pit the paste mean the wheel is lost.
Four things to carry forward
- Cream to 5.5% fat, then only 18 IMCU/litre of rennet
- 90-minute set at 30 C, no cook at all
- Cut at 30 mm, drain three hours in cylindrical moulds, no press
- Salt 2% on every face, age 11 C / 90% RH for four weeks