France still manages the occasional world-class achievement:

Vieux Boulogne, a soft cheese from France, has been certified the world's smelliest cheese by an team of researchers at a small British university.

Experts at Cranfield University, in Bedfordshire, northwest of London, used an "electronic nose" to analyse the odours of the cheeses, with a panel of 19 human testers also giving their opinion.

Vieux Boulogne, which hails from Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France, is aged for between seven and nine weeks, and has a rind brushed with beer. In Britain it is sold only from two specialist cheese shops in London.

Down in 10th place was Epoisses de Bourgogne, a cheese so smelly it is reputedly banned from public transport in France, but available in British supermarkets.

Well, France may have the honor, but it wasn't much of a competition. Only 15 cheeses were tested, and these only from Britain and France, which modestly boasts some 400 cheeses. Where we ask was the noisome Puant Macéré? Where the pungent Taleggio? Where the olid Stinking Bishop?

Here are CU's top 10 stinkers:

1 Vieux Boulogne: cows' milk cheese from Pas de Calais.

2 Pont l'Evêque: cows' milk cheese from Normandy.

3 Camembert de Normandie: cows' milk cheese.

4 Munster: cows' milk cheese from Alsace-Lorraine.

5 Brie de Meaux: cows' milk cheese from Ile de France.

6 Rocquefort: sheep's milk cheese from near Toulouse.

7 Reblochon: cows' milk cheese from Savoie region.

8 Livarot: cows' milk cheese from Normandy.

9 Banon: goats' milk cheese from Provence.

10 Epoisses de Bourgogne: cows' milk cheese from Burgundy.

UPDATE 11.30.04: Bad links have been replaced with good links.

That list is crazy. Camembert is no way near as odorous as Munster! And I wouldn't say that Brie is a particularly over-smelly cheese.

Of course, my nose may not be as expert as the electronic one used in the study...

Valerie,

That was my impression also.

Stateside munster is a very mild non-stinky cheese. Brie's bouquet is not overpowering. Certainly the omissions given in the post are far bigger stinkers. And the Germans have some particularly noisome candidates. One of the reasons nobody hears much about German cheese.

Perhaps if these cheeses are generously spread in the armpits they acquire the world-class kick reported by CU.

DGB

The list missed also la boulette d'Avesnes, which is the stinkiest cheese I know - and, yes, it's delicious.

Great News !!!

FRANCESTINKS IS DEAD !!!

At last the worst of the worst french-hating site is no more.

I hope pavefrance will follow soon...

Oh, Fred,

How we weep at your bitter news.

Still, one can buy Francestinks schwag.

Alas, you are not discriminating enough to notice what a nice blog we are. Thank you for your nice regards. Unlike you, we do not wish you to be no more. Please continue to drop by and piss yourself.

Regards,
DGB

I found the link on “how to cut your cheese” most informative. It seems that for all of my life I have been cutting my cheese incorrectly.

Valerie & Damian,
I concur, that list just does not seem right. Camembert? Brie? Maybe if left forgotten for a while.

Well, that is one advantage to eating hot, savory, Tex-Mex. The peppers may take the skin off your tongue, but they don't stink.

To our french friends -
Is there not a variety of aged goat cheese whose nickname is "dung" due to its particular...aroma?

V de T,

Perhaps you are looking for Crottin de Chavignol.

A smooth, firm ivory texture with a full, goaty flavour.

It took its name from the small clay oil lamp from the Sancerrois but was soon nicknamed 'horse droppings'. This was because crottin in French means 'dung' and because of the cheese's resemblance to horse dung when mature.

More can be found here.

What a relief to discover what you are eating only looks like excrement, only tastes like a goat, and only smells like, well, it having offended the companion senses, one hardly notices the smell.

Regards,
DGB

Droppings of Chavignol - Babel Fish translation

LOL - They have to be kidding. It is a novelty, like a pet rock, right?

I too found the passage on cutting the cheese helpful. It explains the odd reactions I have noticed from people who were around when I cut the cheese prior to this enlightenment.

Route Pommes de Chavignol - alternate family friendly name.
Describing the idea while allowing you to answer questions from 4 year old neice gracefully.

I know this question is silly I'm a newcomer here with only a consumer's slight knowledge of cheese(s), but how, in France, can one distinguish the aroma of the cheese from the aromae of the bystanders? Seems to me the study isn't controlled, and there might be some aromatic contamination going on.

Excellent point Rhod.
We need an American, using dial soap and deoderant to be tested by the mechanical nose. As a control you see.