Stinky Cheese

Stinky Cheese - it is has drawn comparisons to gym socks, old shoes, barnyards, cellars, and worse! It is almost always the case, however, that the bark of stinky cheese is worse than its bite. It can easily be identified, even at a great distance, by its pungent emanation, and sticky, orange rind.

Stinky cheese illustrates, perhaps better than any other type, the paradox that is cheese itself. Cheese can be described as milk in a controlled state of desiccation - that is, there is a fine line between it and rotten milk. For the production of cheese, humans depend on a beneficial relationship with certain microorganisms. These microorganisms, mainly molds and bacteria, are responsible for all the myriad flavors of cheese. They account for the delicate, floral nature of some goat cheeses to the downright footy nature of washed-rind cheese.

In the case of stinky cheese, we can identify the main culprit: Brevibacterium Linens. B. Linens is a finicky bacterium that flourishes in the warm, moist environment of particular cheese caves. It tends to populate the surface of cheeses, giving their rinds a gorgeous pinkish-orange hue. As it reproduces on the rind, it releases many esters, or flavor compounds. These compounds evoke sensations in the taster, from earth, mushrooms, and wet hay, to rotten eggs, overripe fruit, and must. To truly appreciate stinky cheese, one must become accustomed to finding these unusual flavors in cheese.

Stinky cheese can come from all over the world. France has long held the lead in the production of odiferous dairy products. However, Italy, Switzerland, and even the United States have offered up some challenging specimens.

Some common stinky cheeses include Epoisses, Taleggio, and Morbier.