This week's Stinky Foods star is Limburger cheese. This food is infamous for its strong odor and pungent flavor. Click through the pages below to read five weird facts about Limburger cheese.
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1. Limburger cheese's consistency changes with age.
At first, the cheese is crumbly like feta. After three months, though, it's spreadable and has developed its signature pungent smell.
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2. Limburger cheese has been made in America since 1840.
Swiss immigrants in Green County, Wisc. pioneered the Wisconsin cheese trade back in 1840. Rudolph Benkerts began producing the first Limburger cheese in 1867 at home.
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3. Only one Limburger cheese plant exists in the U.S.
Chalet Cheese in Monroe, Wisc. is the last U.S. cheese plant to still make Limburger. Fifty years ago, hundreds of Wisconsin cheese plans produced the stinky stuff.
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4. Limburger cheese is washed with a bacteria-boosting brine.
During the cheese-making process, it's washed frequently with a brine that contains bacteria boosters. Accordingly, the cheese continues to ripen with age -- kind of like wine.
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5. Limburger cheese can fit into a healthy diet.
One ounce of Limburger has 92 calories, lots of protein and zero carbs.