Camembert is a soft, creamy French cheese from Normandy, closely related to Brie in production method — both are ripened from the outside in by a white Penicillium mould rind — but traditionally made in smaller, individual rounds with a slightly more intense, earthy flavour and a firmer set even when fully ripe. Named after the Normandy village where it originated, Camembert has become, alongside Brie, one of France's most internationally recognised cheese exports, commonly served on cheese boards, baked whole, or paired with crusty bread and fruit. Nutritionally similar to Brie, Camembert offers strong protein and B12 content with negligible carbohydrate, in a rich, indulgent soft-cheese format. Adjust the slider for your serving size.
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Serving size:30g
90Calories (kcal)
0.1Carbs (g)
5.9Protein (g)
0.0Fibre (g)
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📊 Full nutrition facts — per 100g
Nutrient
Amount
% Daily value
Level
Calories
300 kcal
15%
Carbohydrates
0.5g
<1%
Protein
19.8g
40%
Total fat
24.3g
—
Saturated fat
15.3g
—
GI
0 — Zero
—
Calcium
388mg
39%
Vitamin B12
1.3µg
54%
Phosphorus
347mg
35%
Vitamin B2
0.5mg
33%
Sodium
842mg
—
Zinc
2.4mg
20%
Based on Australian NRV. Source: FSANZ Australian Food Composition Database.
📈 Glycaemic index (GI)
0
Glycaemic IndexLow GICamembert has a GI of approximately 0 — effectively zero. As a soft, bloomy-rind cheese with minimal carbohydrate content and no added sugars, it has no meaningful effect on blood glucose, in line with virtually all cheese in this guide.
0 · Low (<55)Medium (56–69)High (70+) · 100
💊 Key vitamins & minerals
Vitamin B12
1.3µg/100g
54% RDI per 100g
Calcium
388mg
39% RDI per 100g
Phosphorus
347mg
35% RDI per 100g
Riboflavin B2
0.5mg
33% RDI per 100g
GI
0 — Zero
Negligible carbohydrate
Protein
19.8g/100g
5.9g per 30g serve
✅ Health benefits
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Very high vitamin B12 — 54% of daily needs per 100g
Camembert provides 1.3µg of B12 per 100g, delivering over half the daily requirement. B12 supports nerve function and red blood cell formation, and is found almost exclusively in animal foods — making rich soft cheeses like Camembert a genuinely useful contribution for people with modest meat intake.
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Strong calcium content — 39% of daily needs per 100g
Camembert delivers 388mg of calcium per 100g, higher than many soft cheeses. A 30g serve provides approximately 116mg — a meaningful contribution to bone mineral intake from a cheese-board portion.
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Solid protein content in a soft, rich format
At 19.8g of protein per 100g, Camembert is nearly as protein-dense as Brie, providing over 5.9g of complete protein per 30g serve, alongside its characteristic rich texture and flavour.
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Zero glycaemic impact — negligible carbohydrate content
Camembert contains just 0.5g of carbohydrate per 100g, giving it an effective GI of zero — suitable for low-carbohydrate and ketogenic eating patterns without any blood glucose consequence.
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⚠️ Who should limit or avoid
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Pregnancy — soft ripened cheeses carry a listeria risk
Like Brie, Camembert is a soft, mould-ripened cheese specifically flagged in Australian pregnancy dietary guidelines due to listeria risk. This applies even to pasteurised versions, given the higher moisture content and surface-ripening process of soft cheeses. Cooking Camembert thoroughly until steaming hot reduces this risk if consumption is desired during pregnancy — always check current health advice.
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High sodium — 842mg per 100g
Camembert's sodium content is notably high — a 30g serve provides approximately 253mg, over 11% of the daily recommended limit. Worth factoring in when Camembert is part of a larger cheese board or shared entertaining spread.
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Significant saturated fat — 15.3g per 100g
A 30g serve of Camembert provides approximately 4.6g of saturated fat. Because Camembert, like Brie, is often eaten generously on a cheese board, actual intake from a sitting can exceed the per-30g figure — portion awareness matters for people managing cardiovascular risk factors.
✅ For most healthy adults (outside pregnancy), Camembert enjoyed in typical cheese-board portions offers meaningful B12, calcium and protein with zero glycaemic impact. Sodium and saturated fat in generous servings, alongside the specific listeria caution during pregnancy for soft ripened cheeses, are the main considerations.
⚕️ General nutritional information only — not a substitute for professional medical or dietary advice.
🛒 How to select & buy camembert
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Camembert vs Brie — subtle but real differences
Camembert: traditionally made in smaller individual rounds (around 250g), slightly firmer set even at full ripeness, generally more intense, earthier flavour than Brie. Brie: larger wheels, typically slightly milder and creamier when ripe. Both use the same basic bloomy-rind production method and are often used interchangeably in cooking, though cheese enthusiasts note real flavour distinctions when comparing genuine examples of each side by side.
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Reading ripeness
Underripe Camembert: firm, chalky centre, milder flavour. Perfectly ripe: soft, slightly bulging rind, creamy centre with balanced earthy flavour — the ideal eating point for most people. Overripe: strong ammonia smell, runny separated texture, bitter or overly pungent flavour. Gently press the centre through the rind; it should yield slightly without feeling completely hard or liquid.
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French AOP Camembert vs Camembert-style cheese
Camembert de Normandie holds French Appellation d'Origine Protégée status, restricted to cheese made from raw milk within defined Normandy production standards. Most Camembert sold internationally, including in Australia, is Camembert-style cheese made elsewhere using the same general technique without the specific regional protection — quality and flavour intensity vary, so trying a few brands helps identify a preferred style.
🇦🇺 Australian tip: Camembert is widely available across Australian supermarkets as Australian-made Camembert-style cheese (Coles, Woolworths own-brand, and specialty Tasmanian producers including King Island Dairy), alongside imported French AOP Camembert at specialty delicatessens, typically priced $6-14 per 250g round depending on origin. Baked Camembert — the whole round warmed until soft and molten, often topped with garlic, herbs or honey — is a popular Australian entertaining dish, widely featured on café and restaurant share-plate menus as well as in home cooking, particularly during cooler months.
🧊 Storage tips & shelf life
Refrigerator
1–2 weeks (unopened), 3–5 days once cut
Wrap in wax or baking paper, then loosely in plastic
Store Camembert wrapped in wax paper or baking paper, allowing it to breathe, then loosely in plastic wrap or a container, in the least cold part of the fridge. Once cut, the exposed surface dries out and ripening accelerates, so consume within 3-5 days for best quality. A strong ammonia smell beyond the normal earthy rind aroma signals it has passed its best.
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Freezer
Up to 6 months (texture changes significantly)
Best reserved for baked or cooked applications after thawing
Camembert can be frozen, but its delicate soft texture is significantly compromised after thawing, becoming grainy — freezing is best reserved for Camembert that will be baked or used in cooked applications rather than eaten fresh from a cheese board.
Camembert originates from the Normandy region of northern France, with the cheese's name tied to the village of Camembert specifically, where local tradition credits a farmer named Marie Harel with developing or popularising the cheese in the late 18th century, reportedly aided by advice from a priest fleeing the French Revolution who had knowledge of similar cheese-making techniques from the Brie region. While the precise historical accuracy of the Marie Harel origin story is debated by food historians — soft, bloomy-rind cheese-making in Normandy likely predates this specific account — the story has become deeply embedded in Camembert's cultural identity and marketing heritage, with a statue of Marie Harel still standing in the village of Camembert today. The cheese's now-iconic round wooden box packaging, which helped protect the soft cheese during transport and storage, was introduced in the late 19th century and significantly aided Camembert's spread beyond its local Normandy market to wider French and international distribution.
Camembert gained particular international recognition through the 19th and 20th centuries, becoming, alongside Brie, one of France's most globally exported and recognised cheese styles, closely associated with French culinary identity internationally. Its distinctive round wooden box packaging, still used for many traditional and premium versions today, became a recognisable visual signature that aided its marketing and international recognition well beyond France's borders. In Australia, Camembert has followed a similar adoption path to Brie, moving from a specialty imported item to a mainstream supermarket staple over recent decades, with Australian dairy producers — particularly in Tasmania's cool-climate dairy regions — developing genuine expertise in Camembert-style cheese production that has earned recognition in domestic and international cheese competitions, reflecting the broader maturation of Australia's specialty and artisan cheese industry.
Camembert's origin story credits a Normandy farmer named Marie Harel in the late 18th century — though the full historical accuracy is debated
Local tradition in the village of Camembert holds that farmer Marie Harel developed or refined the cheese around 1791, reportedly with guidance from a priest from the Brie region who was hiding in Normandy during the French Revolution and shared cheese-making knowledge in gratitude for shelter. While food historians note that soft, bloomy-rind cheese-making traditions in Normandy likely predate this specific account, the Marie Harel story remains a cherished part of Camembert's cultural heritage, commemorated with a statue in the village of Camembert that continues to draw cheese enthusiasts and tourists today.
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Camembert's iconic round wooden box, introduced in the late 19th century, was a genuine packaging innovation that enabled the cheese to travel and sell far beyond Normandy
Before the wooden box was introduced around the 1890s, Camembert's soft, delicate structure made it difficult to transport and sell successfully outside its local Normandy production area, limiting the cheese's market to nearby regions. The wooden box provided crucial structural support during transport and storage, directly enabling Camembert's expansion into wider French national distribution and eventually international export — making this seemingly simple packaging innovation a genuinely significant factor in the cheese's rise to global fame, not merely a decorative or traditional flourish.
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Camembert and Brie are so similar in production method that the key differences come down to size, regional tradition and subtle flavour intensity rather than fundamentally different techniques
Both Camembert and Brie use essentially the same core production method — curdling milk, forming curds into moulds, and ripening the cheese from the outside in using a Penicillium mould culture applied to the surface. The main practical differences are regional (Camembert from Normandy, Brie from the Île-de-France region around Paris), size (Camembert traditionally smaller, around 250g rounds, versus Brie's larger wheels), and subtle flavour distinctions that cheese enthusiasts describe as Camembert typically being slightly more intense and earthy compared to Brie's generally milder, creamier character — differences appreciable in genuine examples but often blurred in mass-produced, less distinctive versions of either style.
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Camembert de Normandie's French AOP protection specifically requires raw milk — a stricter requirement than many other protected cheese designations
The French Appellation d'Origine Protégée standard for genuine Camembert de Normandie requires the use of raw (unpasteurised) milk, a notably strict requirement compared to many other protected cheese designations that permit pasteurised milk. This raw milk requirement is credited by cheese enthusiasts with producing a more complex, distinctive flavour profile than pasteurised versions can achieve, though it also means genuine AOP Camembert de Normandie is not legally importable into some markets with strict raw-milk-cheese import restrictions, including certain aspects of Australian food import regulation, making authentic raw-milk Camembert a genuine rarity for many international consumers outside France.
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Baked Camembert has become one of Australia's most popular casual entertaining dishes, featured widely on share-plate menus and at home gatherings
The practice of warming a whole round of Camembert until soft and slightly molten — often topped with garlic, rosemary, honey or nuts and served with crusty bread for dipping — has become a genuinely mainstream Australian entertaining dish over the past two to three decades, appearing regularly on café and restaurant share-plate and grazing menus as well as in home cooking, particularly during cooler months. This specific preparation, while not originally a traditional French serving method in this exact form, represents a distinctly Australian culinary adaptation of the cheese that has become a recognisable and popular dish in its own right.