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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Germany

Limburger

Cow milk is soured with a lactic culture and set with rennet, then cut into small cubes and heated gently. The curd is ladled into moulds, turned while it drains and dry-salted over one to two days. The surface is washed often with weak brine until a smear of yeasts and coryneform bacteria covers it, then the cheese is wrapped and ripened further. Made in 6 steps over 2 months. The longest step, wrap and ripen, takes at least 2 months (US Code of Federal Regulations) and runs at at least 2 °C (US Code of Federal Regulations). Lactic acid bacteria and Debaryomyces hansenii and Geotrichum candidum do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsSet[cfr-limburger]Wrap and ripen
Temperatureat least 2 °CSet[cfr-limburger]Wrap and ripen
AciditypH 4.8Set[cfr-limburger]Ladle into moulds and drain, turning

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe US standard fixes the steps and the composition, not the amounts.
Cow milk · Milk, nonfat milk or cream, alone or combined; raw or pasteurised[cfr-limburger]
Lactic acid culture[cfr-limburger]
Rennet · Or other clotting enzymes; calcium chloride up to 0.02 % of the milk weight[cfr-limburger]
Salt · Dry salt on the curd, then weak brine on the surface[cfr-limburger]
Starter: lactic acid-producing bacterial culture; the smear flora is largely the dairy's own house flora

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months

Start
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32–33 °Cshapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria

What changes: A lactic culture and rennet go into warm milk and it sets

Step 1 of 6
Warm the milk and add culture and rennet
Time
Not documented
Temperature
32–33 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts
Geotrichum candidum
B. aurantiacum
Debaryomyces hansenii

Output: coagulum.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
soft gel
Colour
white

Microbes at work in this step

lactic bacteria sour the milk; rennet sets it

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Limburger is a soft rennet cheese whose surface is washed with weak brine until a smear grows. A study of five smear cheeses found Limburger had the simplest smear, two yeasts and two bacteria, while Livarot had ten yeasts and 38 bacteria.

Milk
Cow milk, cream or nonfat milk; raw-milk cheese is cured at least 60 days
Composition
US standard: no more than 50 % moisture; at least 50 % milkfat in the solids
Smear flora
Two yeasts and two bacteria, the simplest flora of five smear cheeses studied

Related ferments

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

  1. [cfr-limburger] US Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR 133.152 Limburger cheese (standard of identity)gov
  2. [cogan2014] Cogan T.M., Goerges S., Gelsomino R., Larpin S., Hohenegger M., Bora N. et al. 2014, Biodiversity of the surface microbial consortia from Limburger, Reblochon, Livarot, Tilsit, and Gubbeen cheeses, Microbiology Spectrum 2:CM-0010-2012, doi:10.1128/microbiolspec.CM-0010-2012paper