Limburger from GOLDSTEIG

The first Limburger cheese was made by monks in monasteries in the Belgian province of Lüttich in the former Duchy of Limburger in the 13th century. This cheese speciality then came to Bavaria around 1830. The agricultural reformer Carl Hirnbein brought the soft cheese, back to his home of Allgäu from his study trip back then. He opened the first soft cheese dairy in South Germany there from where this cheese’s success story ran its course.

Nowadays, this red smear cheese is well-known and popular far beyond the borders of the Duchy of Limburg, which has been divided between Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium in the meantime. This red culture cheese was even so successful at times that the price of milk was calculated using its retail price.

“brick cheese” or a “brick” Limburger cheese has many nicknames and not without reason! At first glance, you can easily mistake this cheese for a brick. The cheese gets its characteristic shape from the bar, or brick shape, in which it is produced.

Due to the so-called red smear bacteria, which are added to the cheese by means of a special liquid while maturing , the surface turns a reddish brown. Due to this surface, which is also called “red smear”, this cheese speciality doesn’t just have its intensive smell but it also contributes significantly to its nicknames together with the brick-like shape.

It might be less well known here but in the United States it has been an essential item on the menu for a long time: the Limburger sandwich. Once the cheese is mature and spreadable after three months, it is spread thickly onto pure wholemeal rye bread. It is topped with a large slice of onion and

accompanied by a strong, black coffee or a lager. Up until well into the 1960s, this was the most popular sandwich made by German immigrants as a classic worker’s meal in the USA. In the meantime, there are just two Limburger cheese factories left in Monroe, Wisconsin and Linwood, Michigan. The sandwich is still a popular classic there today.

Esrom, Harzer, Limburger – they all have one thing in common: their rather unique aroma. For some it smells rather strange, for others there’s almost nothing more wonderful. Opinions are divided when it comes to the smell of cheese. This cheese develops a smell that gets stronger all the time after maturing for about 2 weeks and it is also very famous and popular for this.

True cheese connoisseurs are not put off by the unusual smell though, quite the opposite! The extravagant smell also entails a very strong and full flavour and therefore an indulgence that other types of cheese cannot provide.