Wisconsin Limburger: More Than Meets The Nose

It's no secret that limburger cheese stinks. Its legendary odor has been compared to body odor, stinky feet and a variety of dead or dying creatures. Sadly, many people won't even give it a taste due to its distinctively pungent aroma. But, before you dismiss this Wisconsin classic, read on. It turns out there's a lot more to limburger than meets the nose.

Although named for the city of Limburg, Belgium where it was first sold, limburger is renowned as a German cheese, since Germany is where it gained its popularity. And it was the German and Swiss immigrants who settled here in Wisconsin who helped to keep the torch burning. In 1867, Rudolph Benkerts, a Wisconsin cheesemaker in Green County, began making limburger cheese in his home cellar. By 1880, the cheese was being made at 25 cheese factories in the county, and by 1930, there were more than 100 companies producing it.

Today, however, there is only one remaining creamery manufacturing limburger – the Chalet Cheese Cooperative in Monroe, Wis. The Chalet produces about 500,000 pounds of limburger annually, and the cheese is shipped throughout the United States according to demand.

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