🧀 Limburger

Limburger is a soft cheese with a rind under a yellow-brown to reddish smear, a standard variety in Germany. Its taste runs from spicy to piquant, its smell is strong, and the paste cuts softly without running. Pieces weigh from 180 g to 1 kg, and inside the cheese is pale yellow with only a few holes.

Around 1830 the cheese merchant Carl Hirnbein brought the Belgian method of making Limburger to the Allgäu. According to the region, this laid the foundation of its dairy economy. Today the requirements for the variety are set in the German milk products ordinance MilchPQV: appearance, weight, taste and fat levels. It names no type of milk for Limburger; if the milk does not come from cows, the ordinance allows deviations from the description.

The surface shapes the character of this cheese. A study of five smear-ripened cheeses found that Limburger has the simplest rind microflora: two yeasts and two bacteria, including Brevibacterium aurantiacum. The related Brevibacterium linens from cheese releases volatile sulphur compounds and S-methylthioacetate, an important aroma component of such cheeses. Carotenoids, above all β-carotene, give the rind its orange colour.

For 100 g of Limburger the USDA lists 327 kcal, 20 g of protein, 27.2 g of fat, 800 mg of sodium and 497 mg of calcium. The standard has five fat levels, from half-fat to cream, and the minimum dry matter rises with them: 35, 38, 42, 44 and 46%. Its smell even interests entomologists: in 1996 it was described as an attractant for the malaria mosquito.

Limburger or Romadur, other smelly cheeses? Limburger and Romadur are described in the German ordinance in the same way, with a yellow-brown to reddish smear on the rind and a soft, pale yellow paste with few holes. The difference is size and strength: Limburger weighs 180–1,000 g and tastes spicy to piquant, Romadur is smaller and milder. The smell comes from the rind microflora, which in Limburger is the simplest of five smear-ripened cheeses studied: two yeasts and two bacteria. If Limburger seems too sharp, try Romadur.

Look for “Limburger” (in French “Limbourg”) and check the fat level on the label: it is stated on dry matter, not on the whole cheese, from half-fat (at least 20%) to cream level (from 50%). Pieces weigh from 180 g to 1 kg; under the rind is a yellow-brown to reddish smear, and the paste is pale yellow with a few holes. The smell is strong. You will find it at a supermarket cheese counter, a delicatessen or a specialist cheese shop.

Why it matters to you. Check the fat level on the label: it is calculated on dry matter, not on the whole cheese. Half-fat means from 20% fat in dry matter, cream level from 50%. If Limburger seems too sharp, try Romadur: the standard describes it the same way, but it is smaller and milder. In the Allgäu such cheeses are served as «Saurer Käs» with onion, fruit vinegar, oil and farmhouse bread.