Muenster is a semi-soft cheese created in the United States and popularized in the early twentieth century. Muenster cheese may be an imitation of Munster cheese, a washed-rind cheese originating in Munster, Haut-Rhin, Alsace, which was familiar to German immigrants. Its name is not related to the German cities of Münster, Westphalia, or Munster, Lower Saxony, nor to the Irish province of Munster.