46. Bruder Basil
Bruder Basil (Brother Basil) kind of sounds like he might be a monk and the cheese he makes probably a Trappist-style, raw milk monastery cheese of complex, delightful flavors. Alas, he is the Aunt Jemima of the cheese world, a corporate invention to try to fool consumers into thinking something common and cheaply produced is rare and special.
Ok, so that said, I don't hate Bruder Basil or Aunt Jemima for that matter. Both will do in a pinch. Bruder Basil is a rectagular, smoked semi-soft cheese. The flavor: smoke. Texture: a little soft and creamy. Totally munchable. Pairs well with ham on a sandwich or a frosty German lager. Don't seek it out but if you are served it at a party, give it a try.
Name: Bruder Basil
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Germany
Date Purchased: 12/08/2006
Date Eaten: 12/16/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $7.99/lb.
January 3, 2007
61. Hirtenkäse
Literally meaning "herdsman's cheese" Hirtenkäse is wonderful cow's milk cheese from the Allgäu regionof southern Germany. One reason for the name and the brilliant flavor is the cows that produce its milk are all fresh grass fed. No sileage is fed to the herd during the cheese producing months. The texture is a little granular with an aged provolone/parmesan taste. Very delicious.
Name: Hirtenkäse
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Germany
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.
January 4, 2007
62. Tilsit
When I lived in Germany I would often eat cheese, cold cuts and fresh bread for breakfast. Tilsit was one of the cheeses that made a great breakfast cheese. Mild and soft, Tilsit is very close to Havarti in taste and texture but usually a short rectangle compared to Havarti's squareness. It has a yellow wax rind that should be removed and not eaten, unless your the kind of person who likes to chew on wax. The name comes from the former name of a town in former eastern Prussia, Tilsit that today lies in Russia with the name Sovetsk. It is not a great cheese but a pleasant one and sometimes that can be the needed thing at the start of a day.
Name: Tilsit
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Germany
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $8.49/lb.
January 6, 2007
64. Bavarian Limburger
Limburger is synonymous with "stinky cheese". When I was young I remember old cartoons and shorts in which strong smells of any kind were symbolized by this pungent cheese. If you ask someone what the worst smelling cheese is, possibly even the worst smelling anything, odds are they will say Limburger. Odds are also that many people who name it haven't even tried it.
And yet...
Limbuger is far from the stinkiest cheese I've come across. Munster
beats it by miles. Many other rind-washed cheeses are just as bad. But Limburger has the reputation over the decades for foul smells and unless ripened cheese catch on in the United States will probably hold on to it a few more years.
So why is Limburger smelly? Limburger and other rind-washed cheeses are fermented by a bacterium called Brevibacterium linens, the same bacterium found on human skin which is responsible in part for our bodily odor. Aside from the smell this bacterium provides the orange-brown color to the rinds of these cheeses.
Limburger originated in Limburg, Belgium but today it is also produced in Germany and the United States. The Limburger I tried today was labled "bayerischer Limburger" or Bavarian Limburger and was wrapped in copper-colored foil. The smell upon unwrapping was strong but not overpowering. Maybe, I've gotten used to strong smelling cheese but the aroma was not awful. Butting through the brownish rind revealed the soft cream color of the inner cheese. The taste was surprisingly mild, almost overprocessed. This was a pasteurized, factory produced cheese so there was not much exciting about it.
Name: Bavarian Limburger, German Limburger, Bayerischer Limburger or Limburger
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Germany
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $/lb.
September 22, 2007
149. Cambozola
Labeled as a triple cream, this cheese bears more of the qualities of enriched camembert-like cheeses than of its blue relatives. It is mild for a blue and may be a good starting point for anyone who thinks they do not like blue cheeses. Germany is not famous for its cheeses, sitting at the foot of the great Swiss cheeses to the south. Many might find Cambozola too processed but I really enjoyed every bite.
According to the manufacturer's web site the name is a tribute to a 4th century Bavarian settlement called Cambodunum. The name of the producer Käserei Champignon, "Champignon Cheesemakers" or "Button Mushroom Cheesemakers", confused me for some time. I was unclear if "champignon" was a reference to the blue fungus seeded into the soft cheese. Instead the name came about from the mushroomy smell that many of the bloomy white rind cheeses have and that being the main style of cheese the Käserei produced, they took the French word for mushroom as their brand.
Name: Cambozola
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: soft, blue, bloomy rind
Produced in: Germany, Bavaria, Lauben, Käserei Champignon
Date Purchased: 9/23/07
Date Eaten: 9/23/07
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raliegh, Whole Foods
Price: $14.99/lb.