I’ve never been in any place that sells it (that I know of), so I’ve never had opportunity to taste it (or smell it, for that matter).
Does it taste as bad as its reputation would suggest?
doesn’t taste as bad as it smells.
there was another cheese that i thought smelled closest to baby shit, it didn’t taste as bad.
I haven’t heard of, or seen for sale, Limburger cheese in decades. My grandmother lived in the part of town populated by Germans and we often had Limburger cheese and crackers for a snack. It was kept in the refrigerator, and I don’t recall any overpowering smell. It did have an odor, but it wasn’t THAT bad unless you held it up to your nose and inhaled repeatedly! I recall it being pale, smooth, and buttery, a bit strong, but really tasty. Tasted better than it smelled. Like anchovies, bitter olives, and onions, it’s not for the bland palate. If I ever saw Limburger for sale, I’d buy it just for nostalgia’s sake.
Kraft Foods used to market limburger cheese in a glass jar, but I see now it has been discontinued.
It’s…yeah…it’s its own thing. If you like stinky blue cheeses and stuff like that, don’t necessarily think you’ll like Limburger. It’s a different kind of funk. I tolerate it–I last had it at a bar in Wisconsin that sold Limburger sandwiches. I don’t really buy the whole “it tastes better than it smells” deal. It tastes similar to what it smells like, given that taste is something like 70% smell. It’s not as putrid or offensive, but that funk is still there in the taste. I don’t hate it; I can’t exactly say I like it (like I do most other stinky cheeses), but it’s something I enjoy having from time to time.
I’ve seen Limburger clear out a circle with a radius of 15 feet.
pulykamell nailed it. It’s funky, and there is no escaping the funk, but it isn’t any worse than, say, an aged Brick cheese,.
puly, was your experience at Baumgartner’s?
There is a popular bar snack in the Czech Republic (don’t remember the actual Czech name for it) pretty similar to a soft Limburger, that’s typically served with rye bread and raw onions alongside a frosty stein of Staropramen or Budweiser Budvar.
It has a hell of a strong smell, but actually tastes pretty good, especially after several mugs of your favorite pivo…
Good question. I’ve never been in the same room with it, and I know I’ve never seen it for sale in my life. I am going to have to go to a specialty deli in town and see if they can get it for me (or sell it to me if they have it). I’ve never smelled it, but have been told it smells like bad feet.
It can’t be much worse than vegemite, though. Aussie’s eat the stuff like Americans eat peanut butter… Hell the jar even looks the same. But that is some rough smelling and tasting crap.
Yes. How in the hell did you know that? ETA: I had to look up the pictures of the place and the square, as I didn’t remember exactly the name of the place, but that’s definitely it. Is this place a destination or something? I know I didn’t randomly happen upon it, but it wasn’t given to me as a place to seek out. I think we were in that part of Wisconsin, and I started Googling what was interesting around the area we were in, and Baumgartner’s came up.
All a matter of taste. I’ll eat vegemite straight out of the jar. Limburger gives me a bit more pause. I suspect if I have it more often, I’ll eventually develop an addiction to it, but Vegemite took me a day or two, and then I was spreading it almost as thick as peanut butter on my toast.
I have been eating Vegemite since I was a baby, as have my kids but I have never seen an Aussie spread it thickly.
I love stinky blue cheeses recently managed to get some rocquefort mmmmm, must try this Limburger stuff one day.
I don’t disagree. Maybe “as thickly as peanut butter” is a bit of an exaggeration, but only a small one. I like the stuff, and I like more than a tiny smear mixed in with butter. My Aussie and Kiwi friends told me to hold back a little bit, when they saw how much I liked it. I admit, that may be my American propensity for “bigger is better” creeping through, but, damn, I love the stuff.
I generally like stinky cheeses, but Limburger is just awful.
Ha ha, I knew it was Baumgartner’s too! Since the Limburger is made all at one factory outside Monroe, anywhere you get it will be the same. But for good Swiss cheese: the kind that stings as you eat it, Baumgartner’s and the Swiss Colony and everywhere else on the square carries the blander fare for the tourists. The places off the square are where the locals go.
Limburger tastes just as terrible as it smells. It smears its spoor in the folds of the back of your throat. For days thereafter, your meals will be like a picnic on a battlefield of rotting corpses. About the only upside I can see is if your SO is a foot fetishists, to whom your kisses will taste like paradise.
Limburger tastes pretty good. It’s especially nice with vegemite.
You people taste just anything, eh?
I’m surprised so many have seen it in the stores. I live in a very small town and the local grocery store has it.
A few years ago I decided to try it and picked up a package and put it in my grocery cart. While I went through the rest of the store I kept getting whiffs of the smell of very stinky feet … eventually figured out it was the smell of the cheese on my fingers. I put it back.
I’m from the Dutch Province of Limburg, home of the cheese. Here it is called Rommedoe or Cheese of Herve. (That was the Dutch Wiki, here’s the English one) It is for sale in most shops. I’ve tasted it. Its consitency is quite nice, but the scent… bad. Mega funk.
We held a tasting in a school class once. Every child got a tiny piece to taste. One little boy was too embarrassed to spit it out in the group, but his face got paler and paler because he didn’t want to swallow it either so the taste got worse and worse for him. When I noticed and gave him a paper towel to spit the chees out in he was so grateful. Poor kid.
The rest of the kids? Many refusals to taste it, some cheerful “ewws!!” and the occasional “mmm”.
I knew it because there aren’t many bars in Wisconsin that routinely sell Limburger sandwiches. I can only think of three and Baumgartner’s is somewhat famous for theirs
My ex-wife imports Limburger to sell nationally throughout the U.S. but I have never tried it. It is available in scattered places nationwide but is a pretty minor seller even in specialty cheese terms.