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Camembert (Municipality, Orne, France)

Presentation of Camembert
Maison du Camembert

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Presentation of Camembert

Camembert (169 inhabitants; 1,030 ha;) is a commune in the Orne department.It is the place where camembert cheese originated and is named after.

Olivier Touzeau, 28 September 2025

Maison du Camembert

Flag of Maison du Camembert - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 28 September 2025

In the heart of the village of Camembert, a 18th-century former Norman farmhouse houses the Maison du Camembert (Camembert House Museum). The museum and boutique presents the history of this famous Norman cheese, its manufacturing secrets over time, from traditional production on Norman farms to today's cheese factories: picture with the flag.

Camembert was reportedly first made in 1791 by Marie Harel, a farmer from Normandy, following advice from a refractory clergyman, Abbot Charles-Jean Bonvoust who would have thanked her for having saved him
from the Republicans by revealing the secret of making the cheese of his region of origin, Brie. She is credited with having refined a previously existing cheese recipe from the Pays d'Auge region and having launched it into the wider world. She passed her secrets on to her daughter, whose husband, Victor Paynel, presented one of his wife's best cheeses to Napoleon III, who gave to it his royal seal of approval.
In 1890, an engineer, M. Ridel, devised the wooden box that was used to carry the cheese and helped to send it for longer distances, in particular to America, where it became very popular. These boxes are still used today. Before fungi were understood, the colour of Camembert rind was a matter of chance, most commonly blue-grey, with brown spots. From the early 20th century onwards, the rind has been more commonly pure
white, but it was not until the mid-1970s that pure white became standard.
The cheese was famously issued to French troops during World War I, becoming firmly fixed in French popular culture as a result. Camembert de Normandie was granted a protected designation of origin in 1992 after the original AOC in 1983. The AOC Camembert can only be made from raw, unpasteurized milk from Normandes cows.

The logo represents the building that houses the Camembert House Museum, and whose architecture recalls the famous wooden boxes.

Olivier Touzeau, 28 September 2025