Cheese Database

Limburger vs Tilsit cheese

Limburger, field guide plate
Limburger, photographed

Limburger

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Semi-soft
Type
Washed rind
Rind
Washed rind
Country
Netherlands

Limburger is a semi-soft washed-rind cheese from the Netherlands. It is made from cow's milk and shaped in small bricks with a moist orange rind. The smell is famously strong, while the paste inside is milder than that smell suggests. Salt, moisture, and the washed surface define it more than a sharp aged bite. Shops sell it for bread and hearty plates, not as a hard cheese for grating.

Tilsit cheese, field guide plate
Tilsit cheese, photographed

Tilsit cheese

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Semi-hard
Type
Washed rind
Rind
Washed rind
Country
Germany
Place
a light yellow semi-hard smear-ripened

Tilsit cheese is a semi-hard cow's milk cheese from Germany, and the paste is light yellow under a washed rind. The style belongs to an East Prussian tradition, and German dairies still make it in wheels and in blocks. Makers rub the surface during ripening so a savory smear can develop. The interior stays moist and elastic, with small irregular holes or short cracks. Shoppers meet it as a table cheese that also melts.