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Limburger Mainly produced in Germany, Limburger is perhaps the most popular of all smelly cheeses. It is fermented using Brevibacterium linens, a bacterium partly responsible for the smell of the human body. As a result, when people say Limburger smells like human feet they are scientifically correct.
Mainly produced in Germany, Limburger is perhaps the most popular of all smelly cheeses. It is fermented using Brevibacterium linens, a bacterium partly responsible for the smell of the human body. As a result, when people say Limburger smells like human feet they are scientifically correct. 6. Roquefort
Notorious for its smell, Limburger’s bark is actually a lot worse than its bite. When you know how to eat it, Limburger cheese is remarkably smooth. “Limburger—Don’t Eat It with Your Nose.” So reads the sign above the bar at Baumgartner’s Cheese Store and Tavern in Monroe, Wisconsin: the only city in America where Limburger cheese is still made.
One of the most traditional ways of eating limburger is the limburger sandwich. After three months, when the cheese has ripened, it becomes spreadable.
Where is Limburger cheese made?
Due to its lack of popularity, Limburger can be difficult to find at the market. Just one remaining cheese maker in Monroe, Wisconsin still produces it in the U.S. However, German dairy giants continue Limburger’s manufacture, and these are the gold foil-wrapped bricks you’ll likely encounter.
Take steps to tame the aroma by rinsing the rind or cutting it off completely. Then tightly re-wrap the cheese and store in a lidded glass jar in the refrigerator. This will contain the smell without harming the texture or flavour.
Serving Ideas. Limburger is a table cheeses that’s best served with full-flavoured foods (and perhaps an after-dinner mint). Traditionally, the cheese is cut into thin slices and served with dark German breads such as rye or pumpernickel.
One final and very important note: Limburger is not a cooking cheese. Heat will actually intensify Limburger’s musty funk – which just may serve to ruin your appetite.
Though Limburger is almost universally known as “the stinky German cheese,” it was actually created by Trappist monks in Belgium. It is named for the historical city of Limbourg where it was first sold.
When trying Limburger for the first time, you’ll find it’s easier to cut through with a wire cheese slicer . Trimming the rind will tame some of the cheese’s pungency, but be brave enough to try it with the rind, and without, to see if you have an honest preference.
Why does limburger cheese smell?
Once it reaches three months, the cheese produces its notorious smell because of the bacterium used to ferment Limburger cheese and many other smear-ripened cheeses . This is Brevibacterium linens, the same one found on human skin that is partially responsible for body odor and particularly foot odor.
Related media on Wikimedia Commons. Limburger (in southern Dutch contexts Rommedoe, and in Belgium Herve cheese) is a cheese that originated in the Herve area of the historical Duchy of Limburg, which had its capital in Limbourg-sur-Vesdre, now in the French-speaking Belgian province of Liège.
Herve is a Belgian rind washed soft cheese made from raw cow ‘s milk. The aging process takes place in ripening cellars of the Herve countryside, sometimes cut into its chalky rock.
Uses. A half-pound (226-gram) package of Limburger. One of the most traditional ways of eating limburger is the limburger sandwich. After three months, when the cheese has ripened, it becomes spreadable.
Several variations exist, such as those that add bologna, lettuce, tomato, roasted walnuts, and use white or French bread.
A study showing that the malaria mosquito ( Anopheles gambiae) is attracted equally to the smell of Limburger and to the smell of human feet earned the Ig Nobel Prize in 2006 in the area of biology. The results of the study were published in the medical journal The Lancet on 9 November 1996.
In the early 20th century, Limburger sandwiches became a popular lunch for working people due to their affordability and nutritious qualities.
Where was Limburger cheese first made?
As European food products go, Limburger hasn’t been around all that long. It was first made in the 19 th century by Trappist monks near Liège in the Duchy of Limburg (a territory now divided between Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany). Before you joke about the stinky cheese helping the monks maintain their cloistered lifestyle, bear in mind that the Trappists are also known for making some of the very finest beers in the world. Today, most of the Limburger in Europe is made in Germany.
Periodically washing the cheese with this solution keeps the surface moist and hospitable to bacteria like Brevibacterium linens, which happens to be the very same bacterium responsible for human body odor—specifically foot odor. So if someone tells you Limburger smells like sweaty gym socks, they are technically correct.
Apparently it was nearly unthinkable to eat Limburger without the accompanying brew, because Prohibition so hurt American sales of Limburger that production either ceased or sharply curtailed in most American cheese factories.
Because its unique aroma tends to overpower most foods, Limburger is not really considered a “recipe” cheese…although the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board and a cult of fans will beg to differ.
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