Yes, it stinks! But fans of limburger cheese, made in Monroe, love it anyway

Myron Olson knows how to make a really big stink in his work, which is unique among U.S. cheesemakers.

Limburger, one of the smelliest cheeses on Earth, became this master cheesemaker’s specialty in the 1970s. When the product hits its prime, after four to six months of aging, the center goes soft and the aroma resembles sweaty feet.

The only factory in the nation that makes Limburger is Chalet Cheese Cooperative, which opened in 1855 near Monroe in cheese-centric Green County and is roughly 15 miles from the farm where Olson was raised.

His first job, as a teen earning money for college, was wrapping Limburger by hand and preparing boxes for shipment. Now a machine from France automates the process.

The kid who didn’t like the taste of cheese saw older co-workers “nibble on curds and trim. It kind of got me going,” he says. Now Olson is the cheese factory’s manager, and none of the 21 other employees has worked there longer.

At the peak of production in the 1920s, Green County churned out 2 million pounds of Limburger per year. Output has dropped to around 450,000 pounds. Leading the world in Limburger production is the Allgäu region of Germany’s Bavaria, where the cheese is referred to as a Stinkkäse.

 “Every country has a stinky cheese,” Olson believes. “Compared to other cheeses, Limburger is easy to make, easy to digest and good for digestion” — one of those foods we counted on to cleanse the digestive tract before commonplace talk of probiotics and yogurt.  

The difference between “stinky” and “aromatic” cheese? That’s marketing spin, Olson says, with a laugh. “If you called it St. Michael’s Reserve, specially prepared for you,” more consumers would clamor for it instead of wrinkling their noses.

Who buys Limburger? It’s kind of a mystery, as cheese distributors are the biggest customers, and sometimes the cheese shows up in unexpected places.

Like Aruba. That’s where Olson was shocked to see it, in a Costco-like store, while vacationing. “My cheese — and not just a little display of it,” he recalls.

Closer to home, it’s a pretty sure bet that Baumgartner’s Cheese Store and Tavern in downtown Monroe — seven miles south of Chalet Cheese — is the leading customer. Co-owner Chris Soukup says he averages 50 pounds of Limburger in sandwiches weekly.

 “It’s a big part of our tradition, what we’re known for,” says Soukup, who asserts “there’s something about Limburger that is romantic — it’s still handcrafted, an artisan product.”  

Baumgartner’s Limburger sandwich is built with slices of soft, dark rye bread, the cheese at room temperature, thin slices of red onion and stoneground horseradish mustard. On the side is a mint-chocolate candy, as a breath freshener. “Like the proverbial Band-Aid on a bullet wound,” explains WisconsinCheeseman.com.

Some Limburger fans add a creamy slice of Braunschweiger to the sandwich and wash it down with a bock beer.

Soukup says first-timers arrive with a mix of eagerness, curiosity and trepidation about tasting the pungent cheese, whose cousins are brick and German beer cheese (Olson makes the latter). “It’s a mixed bag of responses” after the first taste, and levity is a part of the Baumgartner’s vibe.

One example: In the women’s bathroom at Baumgartner’s is a comical mural of cheese bricks being shot out of cannons. The work by local artist Kathy King, in part, pays homage to Limburger.

Soukup’s crew has tried experimenting with the odorous cheese and quickly learned it’s in their best interest to serve it unheated. “We tried melting Limburger for a sandwich awhile back but had to throw out the microwave,” he says. “Everything coming out of it after that tasted like Limburger.”

Follow longtime travel and food writer Mary Bergin of Madison at roadstraveled.com.

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If you go

Nibble Limburger at Green County Cheese Days, Sept. 14 to 16 at Courthouse Square in downtown Monroe. About 400 pounds of the cheese were ingested during the biennial festival in 2016.

Green County cheesemakers produce more than 50 kinds of small-batch cheeses.

The event, which began in 1914, pays homage to the 50-plus varieties of cheese made locally. You can count on the line for hot cheese curds to be longer than the one for cold Limburger sliders.

What else? See how cheese is made. Watch a herd of Brown Swiss cows lead the Sunday parade. Expect no shortage of yodelers, alphorns or polka music.

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Cheesy award winners

Limburger is not the only cheese that puts Chalet Cheese Cooperative, Monroe, on the map.

The cheese factory’s baby Swiss, regular Swiss and smoked versions of the two have won 111 awards in competitions that include the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest and World Championship Cheese Contest.

Albert Deppler, manager at Chalet Cheese from 1947 to '92, taught successor Myron Olson how to make the factory’s cheeses.

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12 quick Limburger facts

1. Limburger was the prescription for an Iowa farmer’s stomach ailment in 1935, but his mail carrier refused to deliver the cheese because of the odor.

2. Generations ago, it wasn’t unusual to eat Limburger more than once a day. That started with breakfast: Limburger on a slice on toast, with grape or strawberry jam and a little honey.

3. U.S. Limburger is made with cow’s milk that is 70% Holstein and 30% Brown Swiss, and it is one of the 600-some varieties of cheese made in Wisconsin.

4. The cheese was created by monks in the Duchy of Limburg, an area now split between Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

5. Wisconsin’s reigning Limburger Queen is Stephanie Klett, state tourism secretary, but the original Limburger queen is Carol Tourdot, a 42-year employee at Chalet Cheese Cooperative. She runs the label machine, and she packaged Limburger by hand until the process was automated. Unlike Klett, she doesn’t like the taste of Limburger.

6. Brevibacterium linens, also known as B. linens, is the bacteria that gives Limburger its smell and texture. B. linens also is found on human skin when there’s foot odor.

7. The B. linens bacterial culture at Chalet Cheese was first cultivated in 1911.

8. Young Limburger resembles feta cheese because it is salty and crumbly. If the cheese ages too long, it hardens and starts smelling like ammonia. “Some diehards like it that way,” cheesemaker Myron Olson says, “but not most people.”

9. Limburger comes in 6-, 7- and 8-ounce sizes at Chalet Cheese. A 14-ounce portion was discontinued a few years ago.

10. The Swiss-Limburger Express used to carry the cheese by train from Monroe to Madison, where cutting and distribution occurred.

11. A Limburger wrapper is made of a paper-plastic that prevents the cheese from drying out, then it’s wrapped with foil — which Olson says is traditional with smear cheeses. “Don’t put it in a plastic bag,” he advises. “The Limburger needs to breathe.”

12. Mosquitoes are drawn to the smell of Limburger cheese, and researchers use it in their study of malaria in Africa.

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Other stinky cheeses

Limburger leads the list of smelliest cheeses on earth at TheDailyMeal.com. Here’s what else makes the cut (all made with cow’s milk, unless otherwise noted).

Époisses de Bourgogne, made in France, washed in a young brandy, smells like sour milk.

Stinking Bishop, made in England, washed in fermented pear juice, smells like wet hay and not-fresh flowers.

Serra da Estrela, sheep’s milk cheese made in Portugal, made with curdled milk, smells like “whiff of the tail.”

Munster d’Alsace, made in France, washed in wine, smells like body odor.

Valdeon, made with cow’s and goat’s milk in Spain, wrapped in tree leaves, smells like rotting plants.

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RECIPES

Limburger was created to complement the highly flavored game and meats commonly eaten in Belgium and Germany, according to the Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Academy website.

“With Wisconsin Limburger, crispy bacon, fresh spinach, and caramelized onions, it raises the question, how much tastiness can your mouth humanly handle?” So the intro to this recipe on the website asserts.

The Monroe

Makes 4 sandwiches

• 8 thick slices bacon
• 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
• Salt and pepper
• 2 to 3 tablespoons water (divided)
• 8 tablespoons butter (divided)
• 10 to 12 ounces fresh spinach leaves
• 4 whole-grain baguettes
• 4 to 8 tablespoons fig jam or preserves
• 8 ounces Limburger cheese, sliced

Heat a large skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add bacon and cook until browned and crispy. Drain on paper towels; set aside.

Reserve 2 tablespoons of bacon grease in pan and return to heat. Add onions and pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté onions 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Add 1 tablespoon water, stirring to deglaze pan; stir in any browned bits. Remove onions to a bowl.

Return pan to heat and add 1 tablespoon butter and 2 tablespoons water. Bring to a simmer and add spinach and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook 3 to 5 minutes to wilt the spinach. Remove spinach to a bowl.

Heat a grill or grill pan over medium-high heat. Split whole-grain baguettes. Assemble sandwiches: On each baguette bottom, spread 1 to 2 tablespoons jam, 2 ounces Limburger slices, spinach leaves, onions, 2 slices of bacon and a baguette top, in that order. Carefully turn the sandwiches over and butter the bottoms. Place sandwiches, bottom-side down, on a hot grill, then butter the tops of the baguettes. When bottom sides are golden and cheese starts to melt, carefully flip sandwiches and brown sandwiches’ tops, melting the cheese.

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The Limburger Leap is stacked high with beer brats and beer-caramelized onions perfectly paired with Wisconsin Limburger and baby Swiss.

The Limburger Leap

Makes 4 sandwiches

Beer caramelized onions:

• ½ tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 large sweet onion, cut into ¼-inch-thick slices
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup bock beer

For sandwich assembly:

• 4 fully cooked beer brats
• 3 to 4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 8 slices pretzel bread, cut ¾ inch-thick
• 3 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
• 3 ounces Wisconsin Limburger cheese
• 4 slices (1 ounce each) Wisconsin Baby Swiss cheese, sliced

In a medium-size skillet, melt butter and brown sugar over medium heat. Add onions and salt; cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add beer and reduce heat to medium low. Cover and simmer 20 minutes. Remove lid and continue cooking at light simmer until liquid is thickened and mixture is medium to dark golden brown and onions caramelize, about 40 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Butterfly brats lengthwise about three-fourths of the way through and split open so that the brat remains in one piece. In a skillet over medium heat, sear brats until each side is golden brown. Set aside.

Butter outside of each slice of bread. Divide mustard and spread on the inside of 4 bread slices. On inside of remaining 4 slices, divide and add Limburger. On top of Limburger, layer one-fourth of the caramelized onions, a brat and 1 baby swiss cheese slice; top each sandwich with remaining pieces of bread, mustard-side-down.

Brown sandwiches on preheated griddle pan or in skillet over medium-low heat until each side is golden brown and cheese is melted, flipping once. Once browned, let sandwiches rest about 1 minute. Slice in half before serving.