Brie is a soft cheese with a wonderful texture and taste. Similar to many other soft cheeses, it takes a little ripening for the taste to be just right. Learning how to ripen brie cheese isn’t difficult.
The simplest way to ripen brie cheese is to pull it out of the refrigerator and let it sit out on your counter. This will help ripen the cheese, but keep in mind that as soon as you cut into brie cheese, the ripening process stops. It will continue to age, of course, but won’t continue to ripen.
How Long Does Brie Take To Ripen?
Brie cheese can go from firm to ripe in four to five weeks, but you can’t necessarily keep it out of the refrigerator for that long. You can leave it out on your counter for several days, but remember that as soon as it goes into the refrigerator, you cannot take it back out and keep it out again for a long period of time. The same goes for cutting it—once brie cheese is cut, it stops ripening and needs to be placed back into the refrigerator so that it doesn’t go bad.
One of the reasons brie doesn’t ripen after it’s cut is because it has a white mold on the exterior of the cheese that protects the cheese. Cutting into that mold stops it from ripening further. In fact, brie usually stays as hard as it was when you first cut it.
A Few Things To Remember About Brie Cheese
If you’ve never eaten brie before, you might find both the texture and the flavor profile to be a little different from those of other types of cheese. Here are a few things to remember about brie:
- If you bake it, keep the white rind on so that it holds its shape better
- Eating brie cold can make it taste bland and ruin its texture, so let it get to room temperature first
- Brie will last in the refrigerator for 4–8 weeks
- Keep in mind that brie is especially delicious when topped with other foods such as honey, cherry preserves, sliced strawberries, and dried cranberries
- It is safe to eat the rind of brie cheese
Brie is a versatile cheese that goes especially well with all types of fruit. It is a nutrient-rich cheese that contains protein and fat, as well as numerous vitamins and minerals. It can also be expensive, mostly because real brie is rare. If it does go bad, you’ll know it because it can have an ammonia smell when it’s no longer any good. If that is minor and goes away once the cheese warms up, it is still safe to eat.
Allowing brie to ripen right will make the cheese taste better and allow it to last longer. Just remember that it always tastes best when it’s soft and at room temperature, even though it might be a little runny once it’s ready to be eaten.