Why do some cheeses smell so godawful?

Because most cheese is fermented milk, meaning that it’s exposed to bacteria and yeast.

The same bacterium that causes foot odor (brevibacterium) is also present in some cheeses (typically those with reddish rinds).

The enzymes, molds and bacteria used to produce the cheese contribute to the flavor and the smell. There are a number of food s where it’s better to hold your nose while eating them: durian, lutefisk, and cheese being among them.

The bacteria that give limburger its taste is also what gives you BO.

Looks like @thorninmud beat me to it.

I understand about the fermentation and all that, I guess I’m just confused about why some cheeses smell perfectly fine and other cheeses make you gag. Are they just processed differently?

Different cheeses use different bacterium to give them their unique flavors and smells. Some don’t smell as bad as others. How they are processed also has an effect on the smells.

The smelliest cheeses are the “smear-ripened” cheeses (these are the ones with the reddish rinds). They’re also called “washed rind” cheeses because the rinds of the young cheeses are washed with a salt solution containing the brevibacterium (b. linens), then they’re ripened.

So the strong odor doesn’t actually come so much from the flesh of the cheese (the culture mixed in with the milk is a different organism), but from the rind.

Okay, I see. Thanks, y’all!

I asked this here because I’m on Google too much, helping my daughter with homework. I’m soooo tired of Google, haha!

Well yes it does but if I met someone with funky feet that smelled like that ugh! I’d go crackers!!