# Excrement cheese?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 7, 2004, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493 "2004-11-07T14:09:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/1 "2004-11-07T14:09:08Z")
What’s the name of that cheese that’s flavoured with the excrement of mites?
Mites (at least, I think they’re mites) are put into the cheese and eat it. Much of the cheese’s flavour comes from their excrement, which they leave behind as they eat.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/2 "2004-11-07T14:30:30Z")
> [@](#):
>
> What’s the name of that cheese that’s flavoured with the excrement of mites?
Proof that you can get someone to eat anything on a dare.
[Could it be Würchwitzer mite cheese](http://www.altenburger-hof.de/english/in-erleb-15.html)? The site’s English is dodgy, but it says that spiders are responsible for the flavor of the various cheeses made this way. (Yes, there are more than one. I wonder what the German for asstastic is.)
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### Author:  [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/3 "2004-11-07T14:33:23Z")
Yow.
…and I thought _head_ cheese was gross.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/4 "2004-11-07T14:53:53Z")
> [@Derleth](#):
>
> Proof that you can get someone to eat anything on a dare.
>
> [Could it be Würchwitzer mite cheese](http://www.altenburger-hof.de/english/in-erleb-15.html)? The site’s English is dodgy, but it says that spiders are responsible for the flavor of the various cheeses made this way. (Yes, there are more than one. I wonder what the German for asstastic is.)
That sounds like the stuff, but the name isn’t familiar. I had an idea the most famous of this type of cheese came from Italy or France.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/5 "2004-11-07T15:41:49Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#):
>
> What’s the name of that cheese that’s flavoured with the excrement of mites?
>
> Mites (at least, I think they’re mites) are put into the cheese and eat it. Much of the cheese’s flavour comes from their excrement, which they leave behind as they eat.
Is it perhaps the famous Italian maggot cheese, called _formaggio marcio_ or _casu marzu_?
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/6 "2004-11-07T15:43:16Z")
Actually, [url=“[http://www.portlandmercury.com/2000-09-14/scientific.html](http://www.portlandmercury.com/2000-09-14/scientific.html)”]I’m sure _casu marzu_ is what you’re talking about\*. I didn’t realize it was maggot crap. I thought it was just maggots. Heck, I’d give it a try.
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### Author:  [@Tammi\_Terrell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tammi_Terrell)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/7 "2004-11-07T15:44:12Z")
And then there’s always Sardinian [_casu marzu_](http://food.oregonstate.edu/ref/dairy/trofimov.html), the flavor of which has been enhanced by maggots. (This alleged delicacy is apparently also known as _casu mode_ and _formaggio marcio_.)
– Tammi Terrell
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/8 "2004-11-07T15:44:26Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Actually, [I’m sure _casu marzu_ is what you’re talking about\*. I didn’t realize it was maggot crap. I thought it was just maggots. Heck, I’d give it a try.
[url=“[http://www.portlandmercury.com/2000-09-14/scientific.html](http://www.portlandmercury.com/2000-09-14/scientific.html)”]Link fixed.]([http://www.portlandmercury.com/2000-09-14/scientific.html](http://www.portlandmercury.com/2000-09-14/scientific.html))
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/9 "2004-11-07T15:45:34Z")
[Oh, for Christ’s sake. I’ll preview this time!!!](http://www.portlandmercury.com/2000-09-14/scientific.html)
Sorry guys, still a little sleepy eyed.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/10 "2004-11-07T15:47:02Z")
> [@Tammi Terrell](#):
>
> And then there’s always Sardinian [_casu marzu_](http://food.oregonstate.edu/ref/dairy/trofimov.html), the flavor of which has been enhanced by maggots. (This alleged delicacy is apparently also known as _casu mode_ and _formaggio marcio_.)
>
> – Tammi Terrell
I’m pretty sure maggots are not involved. The cheese I’m thinking of is full of mites (arachnids).
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/11 "2004-11-07T15:48:40Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> [Oh, for Christ’s sake. I’ll preview this time!!!](http://www.portlandmercury.com/2000-09-14/scientific.html)
>
> Sorry guys, still a little sleepy eyed.
Psst! You need to remove the trailing quotation mark. 😉
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### Author:  [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/12 "2004-11-07T15:53:55Z")
Oh. I thought it was maggots, not maggot crap. Guess I’ll have to try it then.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/13 "2004-11-07T17:48:20Z")
:eek:
Just… :eek:
I’ll never be able to look at cheese again without thinking of this…
:: quease ::
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/14 "2004-11-07T17:51:20Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#):
>
> Psst! You need to remove the trailing quotation mark. 😉
Oh, lord. :smack: :smack: :smack: I give up. I just give up. That must be some kind of record, screwing up the html coding for a link three times in a row, while confidently proclaiming it to be fixed on the final try.
I’m officially not getting out of bed today.
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### Author:  [@Tammi\_Terrell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tammi_Terrell)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/15 "2004-11-07T18:16:03Z")
Well, **Derleth’s** already pointed out the famous [_Wurschnitzer Milbenkäse_](http://www.intec2000.de/cheese/kaese_web/kaese_w/wurschnitzermilben.htm), which comes from an area around Altenburg. (And, for what it’s worth, [Ohio State’s Extension Service](http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2152.html) touches on the reliance of Altenburger _Milbenkäse_ (or _Spinnenkäse_) on the infestation of these critters.)
Penetration of these acarid mites into the rind of a cheese is apparently essential to the “respiration” of the French and Belgian [_La mimolette_](http://www.autourdelecole.net/lille/lille/page.php?rubrique=vivre_mimolette) (also known as [_Boule de Lille_](http://www.teddingtoncheese.co.uk/acatalog/de353.htm)), though it seems that the perfect specimen lacks these arachnids in its core.
> [@](#):
>
> I’m officially not getting out of bed today.
Take heart, **pulykamell** , you still beat the rest of us to the maggot-cheese.
– Tammi Terrell
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/16 "2004-11-07T20:26:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I’ll never be able to look at cheese again without thinking of this…
It might be looking back.
How many eyes do mites have, anyway? How many mites in the cheese? How many eyes does that make?
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/17 "2004-11-07T20:40:02Z")
[voice of Bobby Vee]
_'Cause the mite, has a thousand eyes._
[/Bobby Vee] 😛
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrement-cheese/273493/18 "2004-11-07T21:05:35Z")
I’m pretty sure cheese mites are standard issue on Stilton - on the rind, I’m not sure if they actually live inside the cheese - although I suppose they would colonise any cut surface even then.