In the mostly rural Burgenlandkreis county, just southwest of Leipzig in Germany, a tradition of making cheese using millions of live mites dates back at least 500 years. Today, there is only one commercial maker of Milbenkäse left: Würchwitzer Milbenkäse Manufaktur, a two-man operation founded in 2006 by Helmut Pöschel, a retired biology teacher, and Christian Schmelzer, a theologian. “After the Wall came down, there were only a small number of people left producing mite cheese. Helmut then kept it going from his mom and grandma, and tried to make…
