Based near Rennes, this cheese maker is launching his Breton Camembert – 20 minutes
- France is the country of cheese. It has so many that it is difficult to know the exact number. More than 1,000 assuredly, including 45 protected designations of origin.
- AT 20 minutes, we love cheese so we went to discover the cheeses of our eleven local editions.
- We continue our tour of France with the “Nouvoit’membert”, an improbable Camembert made in Brittany.
The Normans have been in PLS since they read the title. Yet it is a true story that we are about to tell you, as part of our cheese maker “Plein les pieds”. In recent weeks, in several markets in Rennes and its surroundings, a cheese maker has been selling the main pride of the Normans (not Mont Saint-Michel, the other).
Based in Nouvoitou, a few kilometers from the regional capital, Antoine Rocul has just developed a real Breton Camembert. In order not to declare war on the Norman neighbor, whose PDO is seriously protected, the young cheese maker decided to call it “Nouvoit’membert” in reference to the name of the town where he grew up. It is here, in the kitchens of the old school canteen of this quiet town in Rennes Métropole, that this barely thirty-something invented his own recipe.
An organic breeder supplies the milk
Open since July 2019, his young cheese factory first offered goat logs and cow tomme cheese. Former bus driver, the boy learned everything on YouTube and especially by testing, making mistakes. Quickly, the cheese maker wanted to rework the basics and felt the need to innovate. “I am self-taught in this profession so I like to have fun. I wanted to let go, to see if I could make my own Camembert. Firstly because I love it but also because it’s a technical product. It took me several months to optimize it, ”explains the young Breton.
To stick as closely as possible to tradition, Antoine Rocul himself collects his milk from local breeders. “Hot, right after the morning milking”. For his Camembert, he calls on an organic breeder based in Amanlis, who obviously only works with the Norman breed.
“I don’t want to fight with the Normans”
If he is not the first to embark on this production, a Breton Camembert was even recently awarded in Lyon, the young founder of
“Cheese room” do not try to irritate the neighbor. “I don’t want to fight with the Normans or with the people who manage the appellation. Camembert is sacrosanct. I wanted to be inspired by it, not copy it ”.
To check, 20 minutes volunteered to taste it. Let’s be frank, the “Nouvoit’membert” has a very good taste of Camembert! Made with raw milk and molded with a ladle, it has already caught the eye of customers and a few restaurateurs, who no longer hesitate to pay 7 euros to treat themselves to a Breton claquos. “It is one of the most beautiful projects that I have carried out”, admits Antoine Rocul. And probably not the last.