Limburg cheese: product description, benefits and harms, cooking at home

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Limburg cheese (Limburger) is a rather rare product. It is difficult to find in stores and supermarkets. It is produced using a unique technology abroad and is expensive. However, in our country there are many lovers of this type of cheese, which has a strong smell and s alty taste. Can you make Limburger at home? We will answer this question in the article.

Product Description

Limburg cheese is a pale yellow product with a bright orange rind on the outside. It has a soft texture and the shape of a bar. The cheese looks very attractive, but at the same time it has a sharp specific aroma and a pronounced spicy taste. Not all people like the smell of the product. However, there are many connoisseurs of this particular type of cheese.

Cheese is produced in Germany from pasteurized milk using a rather complex technology. During the ripening process, its crust is constantly washed with brine. This prevents the reproduction of unwanted microorganisms, but promotes the growth of bacteria. Brevibacterium linens. It is they who give a bright color to the crust.

In the work of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin "Eugene Onegin" there is a mention of "live Limburg cheese". Why is this product called that? Perhaps this is due to the fact that its aroma resembles the smell of the human body. After all, special yeast fungi are involved in the process of maturation of cheese. Under natural conditions, they live on human skin. Therefore, the same smell emanates from cheese as from living organisms.

Photos of Limburg cheese can be seen below.

As mentioned, Limburger is quite difficult to acquire. Only a few farms in Russia produce and sell this product. Its price is high - about 2000 rubles per 1 kg.

Limburger is recommended to be kept separately from other products, so that they do not pass its specific flavor. Also, this type of cheese cannot be melted in a pan or in the microwave. During heat treatment, the product emits a very unpleasant odor.

Benefits and harms

This is a pretty useful product. The composition of this variety of cheese includes the following substances:

• antioxidants;
• vitamins A, E and group B;
• phosphorus;
• potassium;
• calcium;
• magnesium.

The product is useful for people suffering from atherosclerosis. Cheese contains choline. This substance contributes to the normalization of lipid metabolism.

Limburg cheese is not recommended for people who are overweight and want tolose weight. This is a high-calorie product that is not suitable for diet food.

Allergy sufferers should also stop eating Limburger cheese. Hypersensitivity to fermented dairy products may cause gastrointestinal disturbances and negative skin reactions.

For homemade cheesemakers

This product is rarely found on sale, and its price is quite high. Therefore, housewives are often interested in the recipe for Limburg cheese. Making Limburger at home is quite difficult. This is a long and laborious process that requires some skill and experience. However, if you have already been engaged in cheese making before, then you should try to cook this unusual product with a peculiar taste. Below we give his detailed recipe.

Ingredients

To make cheese, you will need about 3 liters of pasteurized milk. It should make approximately 450-500 g of the final product.

You need to purchase all ingredients for fermentation, brine and starter in advance:

• dry bacteria Brevibacterium linens (BL);
• molds Geotrichum Candidum (Geo);
• mesophilic starter (about 37.5mg);
• milk-clotting enzyme (enough to coagulate within 15 minutes);
• calcium chloride solution in water (1 g).

You will also need table s alt.

It is important to remember that before cooking cheese, be sure to rinse well and then pour boiling water over the entirenecessary utensils and kitchen tools. This will prevent unwanted microflora from entering the product.

Cooking process

Heat milk to +32 ˚С. It is better to put the pan not on fire, but on a steam bath. Then add the minimum amount of BL bacteria (about 1/64 teaspoon) and Geo fungus (at the tip of a knife). Mix well.

Next, you must follow the following algorithm of actions:

1. Take a milk curdling enzyme. If it is dry, then it must be dissolved in water, and if it is liquid, then dilute it.
2. Thaw mesophilic sourdough starter and put into milk. Mix the composition thoroughly.
3. Add calcium chloride to the pot of milk. Stir again and wait 10 minutes.
4. Now you can add the prepared enzyme to the milk. For 30 seconds, stir the composition with vertical movements (bottom up and top down).

After 15 minutes, flakes will begin to appear in the milk, and after 1.5 hours the composition will turn into a clot. It must be cut into cubes 1.5 × 1.5 cm in size and wait 10 minutes. Then the mass is stirred (maintaining the temperature not lower than +32 ˚С) and left alone for another 10 minutes.

Whey is formed in a container with a cheese mixture during fermentation. Drain it into a separate bowl. You will need this liquid to prepare the brine.

Next, you need to follow the following procedure:

1. Tear a lump of cheese mass with your hands into pieces about 5 cm in size and leave for 1 hour.
2. Limburg cheese is usually in the form of a bar. Therefore, prepare a rectangular plastic food container (about 700 ml in volume) in advance and make a small hole in its bottom through which the resulting whey will flow. The cheese will ripen in this mold.
3. Put the pieces of future cheese into a container. Press down on the product with a weight of 2 kg. Keep the mass under pressure for 2 hours. Then turn the cheese over and place it under the load again for 4 hours.
4. Heat the whey to +75 ˚С and dissolve the s alt in it. It is necessary to observe the proportion: 1 part of s alt to 4 parts of whey. Cool the liquid down to +20 ˚С.
5. Remove cheese from mold and place in brine. The mass must be kept in a saline solution for 5 hours.
6. Place a wire rack at the bottom of the container and place the cheese on it. The product needs to dry a little. The cheese container must not be closed. Put it in the refrigerator, open, for 12 hours.
7. After 6 hours, turn the cheese mass over again and leave it in the refrigerator to mature.

Ripening

The ripening process of Limburger cheese lasts about 9-10 weeks. At first, you need to turn the mass daily.

It is very important to properly care for the cheese crust. At first, it will have a soft and spreadable texture. It must be washed daily with clean boiled water.

Then the crust will dry and harden. After that, it is washed with an aqueous solution of table s alt (3%) with a small amount of vinegar and calcium chloride.

Youit is necessary to follow the process of maturation of the product. You can judge the activity of bacteria by changing the color of the crust (it turns orange) and the appearance of a specific smell. If after 3-4 weeks there are no such signs, then you need to add a little more BL.

After the crust turned orange and the mass began to exude aroma, washing can be stopped. Cheese continues to stand in the refrigerator. It is turned over twice or thrice a week.

How do you know when the cheese is fully ripe? The readiness of the product for use is indicated by a bright color and complete hardening of the crust. The cheese mass should remain soft.

Combination with other products

Limburger Cheese pairs well with the following foods and drinks:

• red wine;
• beer;
• apple cider;
• green;
• rye bread.

This product can be served both at the festive table and included in the daily diet. Making such cheese at home requires a lot of effort and time. However, the result of your work will be a tasty and he althy dish that you can please your guests with.