Literally for decades I would, while shopping for cheese, pick up the package of Limburger and take a nice strong whiff. Yup, smells like a fart, I would repeatedly note. But it can’t taste like it smells, I figured, I see the stuff in every supermarket in every part of the US I’ve lived. Something that tastes like flatulence couldn’t have such demand.
Finally, yesterday I took the plunge and bought it. Well, it tasted like shit. Usually, when I say that, I’m speaking metaphorically, but not this time. It was like how I imagine a nice shmear of shit on my tongue would taste. I wrapped it in a plastic bag and trashed the nasty thing.
True story: one time we had a houseguest staying with us for a couple of weeks. The day after he moved in I came home from work, got in the door, took a sniff and then called to my wife “Dammit Gloria, one of the cats shit somewhere!”. Nope, it was our guest’s feet. :o
To me, the taste is completely different from the smell, and is rather pleasant.
The smell is damn hard to overcome, though.
Try the limburger sandwich at Baumgardner’s in Monroe, Wisconsin sometime. Monroe is the only place in the US where limburger is currently produced, or so I am told.
I have only had it once. Let me back up. The mom of a dear friend of mine grew up in a large family, without much luxury, in a rural coal town. My firend got into a conversation with her mom about how it was growing up and one thing that emerged in the conversation was that having limburger cheese was a huge treat for her and her siblings, and that she had loved it, and hadn’t had it in years. So, that Christmas Friend ordered some to be shipped to her mom. When she visited that week was the first time Friend had tasted limburger. Said it smelled ripe but that it was really quite delicious.
About 2 weeks ago Friend had a party and decided to serve limburger along with several other cheeses. That’s when I tried it for the first time, and did not care for it. Friend said that this cheese, bought locally, which was labeled Limburger, did not taste like the cheese she had ordered for her mom.
My point? Not all limburgers are created equal. Since there are other cheeses I enjoy pretty consistently I will not seek out a better limburger - but I am open to the possibility of accidentally stumbling across one.
In my Intro to German class, I had them taste many things, including Limburger. Several brave souls tried it, ran to the drinking fountain, scrubbed out their tongues, etc. Fifteen or so minutes later, one of them burped and immediately shot out of his seat, screaming, 'OMG, it comes back!"
