Chuck Darwin<p>Will brie and Camembert cheeses go extinct? </p><p>Until recently, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Camembert" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Camembert</span></a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/brie" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>brie</span></a> came covered in shades of blue, orange and green — a product of the different strains of molds used to make the cheeses, said Jeanne Ropars, an evolutionary biologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research and Université Paris-Saclay.<br>
Eventually, cheesemakers identified a particular strain of mold that was not only fast-growing, but also gave cheese an appealing white covering. </p><p>By the 1950s, the combination of industrialization and demand for uniform-looking cheese turned <a href="https://c.im/tags/Penicillium" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Penicillium</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/camemberti" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>camemberti</span></a> into the gold standard. </p><p>It’s now the sole strain used in the production of brie and Camembert.
<br>Over time, that could prove problematic, Ropars said.<br>
Penicillium camemberti can’t reproduce on its own, so it has to be cloned over and over again<br> — which means that every cheese is made with a genetically identical strain. </p><p>That lack of genetic diversity makes it vulnerable to pathogens or other environmental changes, Ropars said.</p><p>. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2024/03/09/camembert-brie-cheese-extinct-france/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">washingtonpost.com/food/2024/0</span><span class="invisible">3/09/camembert-brie-cheese-extinct-france/</span></a></p>