I have tried and tried to eat Brie rind. I just can't. I had one bad experience with a bite that filled my mouth with ammonia (a bad sign if there ever was one) and ever since, I shudder. How to move past it?

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I'm curious about how to tell (1) if a rind is in the first (man-made) category, and
(2) if a rind is in the second versus third category-- "not recommended" by whom?! It's good to know about these categories, but now I just want more info... and more cheese...;) I'm with Igk and wonder how to deal with the hints of ammonia in the "stinkiest" cheeses, either in the rind or the cheese itself? Or, should there never be ammonia in properly aged and handled cheese? So many questions, so many tasty cheeses...

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IGK . . . I hate to tell you this, but ANY hint of ammonia odor coming from properly packaged brie (or any cheese, for that matter)means its starting to go off.
When buying cheeses with an active fungal/bacterial culture -especially those with a bloomy or washed rind- in a supermarket, check the sell-by date and avoid those which have been packaged in airtight plastic by the manufacturer like the plague.

The cultures in most these cheeses give of ammonia as a metabolic by-product. With proper packaging, the cheese can "breath" and, unless overripe, the ammonia will volatilize away.

If you do buy shrink wrapped cheese though, allowing it to sit on a plate for an hour or or more so at room temperature before eating will do wonders for reducing ammonia content - sometime's the cheese isn't salvageable - but thats life.

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I love the comparison to eating cake and not eating the frosting. That's exactly what I do because I don't like frosting. Same thing with brie, I eat the cheese because I like it and avoid the rind because it tastes horrible in my opinion.

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The best way to think of manmade rinds is to think of cheddars wrapped in wax or Gouda wrapped in plastic or wax. I’d like to echo what Prokopton said regarding ammonia – that is that the taste of ammonia is a sign of cheese decay.

That said, many cheeses smell of ammonia but taste delicious. If the cheese tastes of ammonia on the palate – bad sign – Stop Eating the Cheese! And, the smell of ammonia does not always mean the cheese has gone bad. First of all, this depends on how pungent the ammonia smell is. A cheese may have a hint of ammonia but taste delicious. If the ammonia smell is so strong that you can barely bring the cheese to your mouth, then the cheese is obviously no good.

I encourage people to always taste the cheese before purchasing it to make sure that you know what you’re getting yourself into.

Thanks for the comments and questions. Keep 'em comin'!

Max

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