Limburger

 

Limburger was my Father’s favorite cheese.   As a kid sitting at the dining room table, I was around this very stinky cheese from the time I was born.   Dad loved it on a nice dark bread or on toasted Rye…then I started loving it too.

 

Remember the cartoons showing a piece of cheese with smelly lines spewing off it while people holding their noses and animals all ran away from it?   Well, they were missing one of the pure delights from the world of cheese.

 

Limburger was first made in Belgium…in Limburg no less.   It’s a washed rind cheese so you can recognize these beauties by their orangey and kind of sticky rind.   This protective skin is washed with H2O, a salt solution or alcohol.   The washing can include many wonderful liquids like wine, brandy and even beer.   This moistness and what the cheese is washed with helps provide the perfect attraction for just the right bacteria and molds to deliciously ripen this semi-soft cheese.

 

With wine I love pairing Limburger with a champagne or sparkling wine like Gloria Ferrer's Sonoma Brut.  You could even go for a big Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon like Frank Family Vineyards or at the other end of the spectrum, try it with a Gewurztraminer.   Of course, the traditional libation with Limburger is with one of those strong Doppelbock beers. 

 

Chefs all over the country have re-discovered Limburger cheese and are using it in creative preparations as well as a big winner on their cheese plates.

 

There is now only one creamery in the United States crafting authentic Limburger.   The only one left is the small alpine-style Chalet Cheese Co-op in Monroe, Wisconsin.   Myron Olson is a man with a mission…to bring Limburger back to the new advanced American palate.   I think the time is “ripe” for more people to share this amazing cheese with their friends, family and their children…just like my Dad did.

 

Myron Olson

Chalet Cheese Cooperative

N4858 Highway N

Monroe, Wisconsin 53566

(608) 325-4343