Hessischer Handkáse
Name of Group of Producers
Inspection Body
Date of Submission: 06.07.2007
Date of Pubblication: 24.12.2009
Date of Registration: 04.09.2010
"Hessischer Handkáse"/"Hessischer Handkás" denotes small cheeses which were originally formed by hand and so became palm-sized. "Hessischer Handkáse"/"Hessischer Handkás" is to be classed among the sour milk cheeses. Sour milk cheeses are made primarily from sour milk quark produced only by acidification (without rennet).
"Hessischer Handkáse"/"Hessischer Handkás" can take the form of smeared acid curd cheese (yellow cheese) with mould formation. In the latter case, the extent of the mould formation varies. The characteristic whole-cheese shape of "Hessischer Handkáse" is determined by its traditional production. Each cheese weighs between 20 g and 125 g. "Hessischer Handkáse"/"Hessischer Handkás" is produced only in the low-fat category.
The raw material for "Hessischer Handkáse"/"Hessischer Handkás" is sour milk quark. As the main ingredient for the cheese, it is of central importance. It is produced exclusively from cow's milk. Further ingredients are ripening salts, table salt (possibly iodinated), caraway, depending on the recipe variation, possibly casein and the pure cultures (red smear cultures).
Production of "Hessischer Handkáse"/"Hessischer Handkás" consists of the following stages:
» blending and grinding of the individual batches of sour milk quark,
» mixing with the ingredients such as ripening salts, table salt, possibly caraway, as well as the ingredients and cultures required for the respective types "smeared acid curd cheese" or "Hessischer Handkáse"/"Hessischer Handkás" with lactic mould formation,
» forming of the cheeses,
» ripening of the cheese in the sweating room followed by post-ripening until the "Hessischer Handkáse"/"Hessischer Handkás" is packaged.
"Hessischer Handkáse"/"Hessischer Handkás" has been produced for centuries in a traditional manner on farms. The recipes and production methods have been maintained over time in Hessen's cheese factories and, adapted to modern requirements in sour milk cheese making, use the traditional production method.
