Smear
A sticky, orange to red rind of bacteria and yeasts, built up by washing the cheese with brine.
Also: smear-ripened, morge, red smear
A smear is the moist, sticky, often orange or reddish coating on washed-rind cheeses. It grows when the young cheese is regularly rubbed or washed with brine, sometimes with beer, wine or spirits added, and sometimes with brine from older cheeses so that their microbes pass to the young ones, a practice called old-young smearing. First yeasts grow and lower the surface acidity; then bacteria such as Brevibacterium linens and Corynebacterium take over. The smear gives the cheese its colour, a meaty or farmyard smell and a supple, sometimes bulging paste. Munster, Limburger, Taleggio, Reblochon, Appenzeller and Raclette are all smear-ripened cheeses.