Highland Fine Cheeses

Meet the Minger, a Scottish cheese that some people think is the most putrid-smelling in the world. (Minger is British slang for someone who’s ugly or smells bad.) Cheesemaker Rory Stone says the Minger has a minty flavor and “cabbagey” aroma—but that aroma hasn’t stopped people from buying it, and the company that makes the Minger is now having trouble keeping up with demand. When Stone first created the cheese seven years ago, supermarkets rejected it, but it sold well in independent shops. Then in December, a British supermarket chain announced it would stock the cheese, making it widely available for the first time. Now people can’t get enough, according to Stone. Smelly cheese has long been an object of culinary fascination, experts note. “I think that there are a small group of people out there that just love it,” says Mark Johnson, a scientist at the Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin. “It’s almost like an ‘I dare you to eat it’ kind of thing, like hot peppers.”