The Stinky Cheeses in the World…

We all love cheese.  There is something , in the golden melted ,gooey goodness, that we cannot resist.  Well, the hard truth is , that’s cheese contain something called Casein, which basically makes our brain addict to it . See we crave the cheese, we want more cheese , we need cheese …It does not matter is it on the toast, on pizza, shredded over spaghetti or eaten as snack. There are so many options. Today we are going to look through the smelliest, the most stinky ones  and the most pungent fragrant cheeses in the bunch. And believe me , there is  so many of them. Made of cow’s milk, of goat milk; soft or hard, cheese with mold or with characteristic rind. Some of them are so bad, they are literally banned in public transport of United Kingdom or France. So, without any further ado, lets dive in the stinkiest and smelliest world of cheese.  

More smelly, more stinky. The stinkier, the stinkiest, the better !!

Taleggio

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Taleggio is a semi-soft rennet cheese made from cow’s milk. It comes from northern Lombardy. It is a creamy cheese with a very characteristic, intense, pungent aroma ( dirty sock smell ). It owes this aroma to red goo bacteria – Brevibacterium linens. The cheese is velvety and  buttery with a fruity, mild, and slightly spicy flavor. This Italian cheese is becoming more and more popular on a national level.

Stilton

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Blue Stilton has been called the king of English cheeses.  If you are willing to follow  the “the smellier the better” doctrine, you will definitely want to try it. The texture of this British stinky cheese ranges from hard and brittle to exceptionally soft, almost butter-like, depending on its level of maturity. The  more mature the cheese the softer and smellier it is.

Stinking Bishop

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This is one of the oldest types of cheese in the world. Amen to that! ,Stinking Bishop dates back to the time of the Cistercian monks. This pasteurized soft cow’s milk cheese is created in England from dairy taken from Gloucester cows only. The characteristic orange rind is where this stinky cheese gets its name. For a stinky aroma, orange skin with slight brownish-pink hue. The secret: it is rinsed in Perry, a boozy beverage that features fermented Stinking Bishop pear juice. Its flavor is slightly salty and meaty.

Vieux Boulogne

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This one is a winner. This French specialty is sold almost exclusively in the French city of Boulogne. Due to the transport restrictions,  this smelly product can only be transported in sealed containers. Unfortunately, it  in return it causes a loss of taste.  This is by far the most foul-smelling cheese in the world.

Limburger

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“It smells like feet!” is a common refrain about Limburger, a semi-soft cow’s milk cheese that originated in Belgium. Nowadays, 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 technically correct. While it smells strong, is  pale orange-rind flavor is quite mild , with the hint of grassiness or umami, like mushrooms.

Roquefort

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One of the most pursued-after cheeses on the planet. Roquefort was banned in countries like Australia and New Zealand until not  so long ago.  The cheese is produced out of raw sheep’s milk and matured in caves around the small village of Roquefort in Southern France. Due to the fact the milk is not pasteurized, there is a risk of listeria infection, which can be deadly for some people, and have a serious health consequences to other. In this specific case it looks like this stinky  cheese is as dangerous as it is tasty.

U Pecorinu

This sheep’s milk from the Italian Corsica region. Bright orange-rind oozy sheep’s milk cheese is a stinky showcase of the rustic mountain environment.  Probably the best phrase  to describe this stinky cheese. Is: “ it smells like a barnyard”. “Don’t let the unique aroma scare you off”. The cheese is definitely worth to try.

Rainbow’s Gold

The name is pretty deceptive.  You might expect some delicious and creamy, cheesy smelling cheese, while in reality  this is really one of the smelliest cheeses.  This semi hard cheese comes from Somerset in England. It is exceptionally made from unpasteurized cow’s milk. The cheese is based on a cheddar recipe and then washed in “Golden Chalice” (an ale) on a daily basis for several weeks, which makes it softer. Named after its founder Phil Rainbow of the Somerset cheese company, who made it for the first time  in 2005.

Brie de Meaux

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Brie is called the  royal cheese.  Just to be clear, it is not the kind of pasteurized-milk Brie that you can find in the American stores. Produced in a small town near Paris under the interesting name Mo.  This is the original, raw cow’s milk Brie that the French people  adore so much. Very creamy cheese, covered by a thick, white mold crust.  The crust has an unpleasant ammonia-like odor, and the cheese itself has the scent of forest nuts.  It is interesting that cheese is eaten not only as a savory snack, but also as a dessert.

Maroilles

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Monks invented the cheese hundreds of years ago in the Abbey of Maroilles, and it has been a favorite fromage ( French for cheese) of many French kings ever since. This semi-soft cheese is made out of unpasteurized cow’s milk. The reddish-orange rind makes this stinky cheese straightforward to pick out from the group. So does its smell.  It will make you think of aging fruit and its bacon, citrusy taste. On the  inside the cheeses is kind of  sticky too, while the rind can be harsh and rough in texture. Do not find the rind appetizing? Scoop out the inside right to the rind, and you will  find plenty of great stinky cheese flavor.

Epoisses de Bourgogne

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This cheese gets usually gets top marks for being the smelliest cheese in the wo Many cheese fanatics , will  claim that this is the smelliest cheese of all of them. Aged for six weeks in brine and brandy. Its scent  is so pungent that makes the cheese  banned on al types of  French public transport. It was one of Napoleon’s favorites.

Trou du Cru

The same cheese maker, Berthaut,  who is solely responsible for making stinky Epoisses  also makes Trou du Cru. This one is often described as being a petite ( mini)  version of Epoisses. It is bathed in the French spirit Marc de Bourgogne and aged on straw. That’s  adds some drunken barnyard sent to the other fragrant notes described as: body odor and sour milk. Beyond the rind resides a sweet, creamy, lovely cheese that is favored by many.

Münster/ Muenster / Munster

This French cheese is often called “Monster Cheese” due to its horrendous odor. It comes from the French region of Alsace. It is produced here from raw cow’s milk. The maturing process takes pace  in damp cellars. Its rind is washed regularly with salted water.

Pont l’Evêque

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This smelly French delicacy is one of the oldest known types of cheese, dating back to the 13th century. To be honest, it smells like it is that old too.  At First, the monks of the Norman Abbey began to make it, in the Normandy region. Pont-l’Evêque is an unpasteurized, unpressed cheese made from cow’s milk.  This cheese definitely  has a distinct taste.  The cheese itself smells like butter and hazelnuts, but its crust … It smells like mud ,gas, moldy cellars, barnyard, and bacon so you can imagine. Keep it tightly sealed, if you do not want your fridge, or worse the whole house, to stink.

Camembert

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It comes from France and is one of the most famous cheeses in the world. It is highly  valued for its springy texture and intense flavor and aroma. In addition to its taste, it is also a good source of protein, calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin B12. Camembert is a cheese with a soft, springy, smooth texture, which ripens from the surface to the center. The inside of the cheese is white to light yellow and the rind is covered with uniform white mold with red, brown, or orange spots. The cheese has an intense, deep, buttery flavor and aroma. Made from unpasteurized cow’s milk and left to mature for 3 weeks. Camembert is a soft, runny cheese. It can be  eaten with a spoon.

Schloss

Schloss (which means “Castle” in German) a cow’s milk cheese from Austria is produced since 1901. With the traditional wheel shape and a dollop of cream to make it a triple-crème. Famous for its hearty aroma, it has a savory full-flavored taste and soft creamy texture. The slimy rind is created by washing it  in brine several times as it ages to develop its distinctive orange-hued on the outside. On the inside, it is one of the stinkers on the block. It is “strong” and best suitable for those with a solid likeness for a strong stink.

Petit Fiance des Pyrénées

French cheese hailing from the region of Midi-Pyrénées mountain range. An unpasteurized goat’s milk cheese left to age for 6 weeks before consumption. The aroma of this gooey, oozy cheese is described as “yeastlike” and “odorous.” Petit Fiancé des Pyrénées is produced since 1989.  After the draining of buttermilk, the cheese is bounded with ash wood, and the rind is washed with salt water and annatto ( s an orange-red condiment and food coloring derived from the seeds of the achiote tree) as its ages.

Olivet Cendré/Cendre d’olivet

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Olivet Cendré, is one of the cheeses that are scarry to the foreigners.  Goat milk cheese left to mature inside a damp caves.  Outside is blackened and coated. The blackness of the crust is less due to mold, however, than to ash. Aged in wood ash from grape vines. The reason for the ash is actually to combat scary molds; this helped preserve the cheese by keeping off excessive bad bacteria that was flying around the caves. It also helps absorb extra moisture. In 19th century this cheese was described by  French writer as “… like the carcasses of animals which peasants cover with branches as they lie rotting in the hedgerow under the blazing sun”. Quite delectable, huh?

Ami Du Chambertin

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Made from unpasteurized cow’s milk in the Gevrey-Chambertin area of Burgundy in France.  It is made from raw cow’s milk and has a smooth, soft, and creamy texture below its rind, which is washed in Marc de Bourgogne brandy. The flavors are grassy butter and cream, salty, sweet, milky, vibrant, and strong with hints of bacon and spices. The smell of the cheese  gets quite pungent as the cheese matures. The smell lingers somewhere between barnyard and “rotten”.

Vieux Lille/Gris de Lille/Vieux Puant/ Puant Macere

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This cheese from northern France is so stinky that it is nicknamed “old stinker.” An extremely pungent cheese produced in the region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Vieux Lille is a type of Maroilles and washed with a brine for three months to make it one of the most pungently fragranced cheeses on the planet. Not for the faint of heart; perfect for those who think the stinker, the better. Its texture is semi-soft and slightly elastic, while the flavor is salty and strong. The cheese is produced in square blocks, and the northern miners used to enjoy it while working down in the pit.

Ardrahan

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Semi-soft cheese with a gold hue and a washed rind. It is made from pasteurized milk from purebred Friesian cows, living happily in from Duhallow region of Ireland.  Slightly acidic, yet buttery and savory all at the same time.  Soft and sticky cheese smells rustic and earthy; thanks to the long rainy seasons that help grow those grasses. The brine-washed rind glows with golden shade. Deep yellow in color with a slightly chalky texture. The cheese emits a flash of complex flavors emphasized by acidic, buttery, and savory attributes.  It may remind you of a young Gruyere. The cheese matures in four to eight weeks. A smoked variety of Ardrahan has a brownish, smoked rind with semi-soft consistency and chalky texture. Its aroma resembles smoke, peanut butter with roasted coffee notes.

Torta del Casar

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 The name “torta” translates to cake in Spanish and its city of origin (Casar de Cáceres). Torta del Casar starts with milk from sheep in western Spain near the Portuguese border. Acidic, gamey, and herb like all at the same time. Torta del Casar is an exceedingly rare cheese since it is made from the milk of Merino sheep and thistle rennet which gives a sour and tangy taste. Wild thistle which adds a slightly bitter note to the rich and slightly salty tasting cheese. The cheese is aged for at least 60 day. It develops a semi-hard, yellow to a yellowish-brown crust and a soft, spreadable, creamy, almost runny inside. It is creamy, easy to spread. If you can get past the pungent aromas, stinky cheeses can be some of the most delicious varieties out there.

Esrom/Danish Port Salut

It takes its name from the monastery, Esrom Abbey, where it was produced until 1559. The process for making Esrom was rediscovered in 1951. The pale yellow semi-soft cow’s milk cheese with a pungent aroma and a full, sweet flavor. It is a spongy cheese, with many small holes throughout. Slightly elastic and buttery in texture. It is slow matured for a period of 10 to 12 weeks, then cured in rectangular moulds. It has a waxy yellow-brown rind.

Tomme de Chevre

This raw goat’s milk cheese comes  from the Aspe Valley in the French Pyrenees. It is not the most stinky of the bunch. Nevertheless, it has more aggressive aroma than the mild goat cheeses that your local supermarket. It is grassy and nutty, but with a strong goaty smell that has a particular kind of gaminess that some people can find off-putting.

Greensward

Named after Greensward Plan, which was the previous name of New York Central Park.  This cheese was awarded the title of  the “best washed-rind cheese in the country”,  by The American Cheese Society. Its silky, oozy consistency and strong bacon flavor comes from washing the rind with residues from a  production of Vermont cider.  “Greensward has an orange rind. Its  pungent cheese flavor will  transports your palate to a cidery. With an orange-hued, textured rind enclosed by a spruce jacket, this cheese is visually striking. Its off-white paste is spoonably creamy and silky. It taste is pungent and perfumed with floral, resiny notes. Hints of ripe fruit, wet barnwood, kalamata olives and leaves can be detected, and rounded, savory flavors of broth, meat and booze linger on the palate.