Marie Harel: Who was the inventor of Camembert cheese and how did she do it?

According to legend the then 30-year-old dairymaid was taught how to make the cheese from a priest who was fleeing the anti-clerical French Revolution

The first in a series of pictures depicting the method of making Camembert cheese (Google)

Marie Harel was a cheese maker who, alongside Abbot Charles-Jean Bonvoust, is attributed with creating camembert cheese. Now, Ms Harel is being featured on the Google Doodle on what would have been her 256th birthday.

According to legend, Ms Harel, a then 30-year-old dairymaid from Vimoutiers, Normandy, was taught how to make the cheese by a priest, Mr Bonvoust, who was fleeing the anti-clerical French Revolution.

She apparently made some slight adaptations to the recipe, removing cream, making them in smaller wheels and also packaging the cheese in thin round wooden containers.

This container is partly the reason why the cheese became so popular, making it perfect to transport across the Atlantic.

It was given to French soldiers in their iron rations during World War I.

Ms Harel's work initiated a dynasty of entrepreneurial cheese makers, including her grandson Cyrille Paynel, who produced camembert on a large scale.

Another one of her decendents, Thomas Paynel, apparently met Napoleon III and offered him the cheese. Napoleon was so impressed with the taste he made Mr Paynel the official furnisher of camembert to the French emperor.

Ms Harel died aged 83 and a statue of her can be seen in her home town of Vimoutiers.