The Cheese is Ripe

The brie is ripe and ready to eat. I have the cheese, a cheese knife and some grapes, and Ex-Shammickite said she would bring the biscuits and the Merlot. If anyone else would like to join us, please come on over. I've had a little taste and it's quite delicious!

Yummy!

Cheese Update

It's been about 19 hours since I set the Brie out to ripen. Here's how it looks:





I got quite excited because they all looked as if they were starting to bulge, and in particular the topmost piece was looking exceedingly relaxed. I decided to move them to a darker cutting board, so that I could get a better contrast, but when I carefully lifted the pieces up I realised that it wasn't so much a case of the creamy centre starting to soften, but more a case of the rind starting to dry up and curl around the edges. And to make matters worse, the navy blue cutting board I chose to display the cheese on, just made the pieces look a sickly green colour.
See what I mean? Rind is dry, cheese is still rubbery, and now it has a repulsive green tinge to it. I'm covering it loosely in cling film, and I'll wait another day to see what develops.

Ripening Cheese

A few days ago I mentioned that I had enough cheese and wine to throw a party. I had a few suggestions, including to freeze the cheese. Unfortunately, the cheeses that had been opened and cut into were beyond saving, and I had to throw them away. However, there was a large piece of Brie which hadn't been unwrapped or cut, and this was still good.

Yesterday, someone told me that Brie from supermarkets is hardly ever at the correct ripeness for eating, which is when it starts to ooze. She said that supermarkets wrap them so tightly in clingfilm, that they just can't relax! These are the instructions she gave me:

Unwrap the brie, and leave it out at room temperature for as long as it needs to reach a ripening point (when it's starting to bulge at the sides). This can take anything up to two days. Then carefully wrap it up in some fresh cling film and put it in the freezer. When you want to eat it, take it out and leave at room temperature to thaw, and it will be perfect for eating.

So, I've cut the brie into three equal wedges, and left them on the table in the dining room so that they can ripen. I will keep posting photos if and when there are any developments. After I've frozen the three wedges, I'll take one out and test the thawing/perfection theory (with pictures, of course). Here's the before picture:

I should have used a darker cutting board to do this on, but never mind. More pictures to come when they start to bulge....