The Stinkin' Truth

All you need to know about smelly washed rind cheese.

- Hannah Choo

CHEESE IS LIKE MARMITE. You love it or hate it. We love it, and we have all been there, whether it’s a late-night itch for grilled cheese or chewy pão de queijo. After all, cheese is fat, and well, fat is delicious. But if you think blue cheese smells bad, you haven’t met the washed rind family. It’s a hell of a lot smellier, but weirdly, the stink grows on you. You just need to know what to go for. From the stinking Bishop to the trou du cru (dubbed the durian of cheese), you can’t do better than the cheese artisans. Look for Oliver sutton, its chief fromager. He’s a walking encyclopedia of every cheese imaginable.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND

Washed rind cheeses have been made in europe since the middle ages. While there is no specific historical reference to the first production, it has been widely attributed to the monasteries of Northern France, often referred to as monastic or trappist cheeses. Some have attributed rind-washing as an attempt to develop a meaty flavour in cheese as people had to abstain from meat for long periods of time. However, it is also known that it inhibits mould development and helps the development of good bacteria, as well as enhancing flavour. During this period, water was mostly unpotable. So they would have used beer, wine or spirits to wash the cheeses.

THE MANY VARIETIES