Posted on 11/30/2004 6:01:29 AM PST by presidio9
A soft, pungent cheese from northern France has topped a British researcher's study of the world's whiffiest cheeses.
Academics at Cranfield University north of London said Friday that Vieux Boulogne, a Normandy cheese made from cows' milk, was the smelliest of 15 cheeses tested. Two other Normandy cheeses, Pont l'Eveque and Camembert, came in second and third.
Scientists at the university used human sniffers and a computer-linked "electronic nose" to rank the cheeses by odorousness.
Stephen White, who led the research, said the smelliest cheeses were those whose rinds had been washed in brine, brandy or — as with Vieux Boulogne — beer.
"There was no obvious correlation between the age of the selected cheeses and smelliness, nor type of milk origin, although cows' milk cheeses did dominate the smell chart," White said.
Vieux Boulogne owes its distinctive orange color and pungent smell to the brushing of its rind with beer during the two months it spends aging in cellars around the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France.
The smelliest dairy products in the survey, commissioned by a group that promotes French cheese in Britain, came from France. Munster, a cow milk's cheese from the eastern regions of Alsace and Lorraine, was fourth, followed by Brie de Meaux and Roquefort.
Hard cheeses, such as Parmesan and English cheddar, were the least smelly of those tested.
In related news, it was also determined through a series of tests that the French are the smelliest people.
The people smell as well. I work with a french people on daily basis and I don't think they take showers very often.
Wee-wee, monsewer!
Hey Alle you beat me to it. I totally agree
French ___________ is the smelliest.
Put anything in the blank and it works.
You still have a correct title if you eliminate "in U.K. Test" and replace "Chese Is" with "Are" yielding:
French Are Smelliest
Perhaps it's the lingering odour of the maker?
In the "cheese world" smelly is good isn't it?
Wait! There's been a mistake here. That's no cheese, it's France's most popular underarm deodorant!
What a funny thread!
I keep thinking of the Monty Python cheese shop sketch . . .
It smells just like a French woman's armpits...the stinkiest thing in the world, besides French cheese.
Apparently this research did not include limburger cheese from Germany. My first wife was from Germany (WWII all over again), and we were once on a trip.
After we made s stop at a store and were underway again, she unwrapped a hunk of limburger cheese and started eating it.
I stopped the car and made her get out to finish it. It actually smelled like an animal that had been dead for several days. How any human can eat that crap is totally beyond me.
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