The sheer simplicity of this cheese-based starter hinges on one ingredient that is not well known outside Normandy: pommeau. As its name suggests, it is made with apples, being fresh apple juice cut with the apple-based spirit Calvados.

The finished product has an ABV of 17 degrees, like its distant grape-based cousin, Pineau des Charentes.

Funnily enough, very young Camembert cheeses can give off a smell of apples on arrival in the first stages of ripening. This stage passes, but the affinity persists.

Here is a link to the recipe by Isigny Sainte-Mère chef Ivan Vautier.