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Tiroler Almkäse

Tiroler Alpkäse

Hard cheese made from raw cows' milk.

Tiroler Almkäse/Alpkäse is produced in the form of a loaf (never a block) exclusively from raw cheesemakingquality milk from cows grazed on alpine pastures with lactic acid bacteria and calf rennet. The rind is firm, yellow to brownish in colour, without cracks and is sometimes covered with a thin dry smear. The cheese has a firm to soft texture with a uniform ivory to light-yellow

colour and a few well-defined pea-sized to cherry-sized eyes. It is aromatic and piquant. The minimum fat content is 45% fat in DM, the ripening period 4% to 6 months.

The loaves weigh between 30 kg and 60 kg. Tiroler Almkäse/Tiroler Alpkäse is produced in the Austrian Land of Tyrol (North and East Tyrol) exclusively from milk from cows grazed on alpine pastures in the Land. In the Tyrol uplands to the west of Innsbruck, the cheese is traditionally known as Alpkäse, and in the Tyrol lowlands as Almkäse.

Tiroler Almkäse/Alpkäse is produced exclusively during the 90 to 120 day growing period of alpine pastures. Milk from the evening milking is placed in shallow containers (wooden milk pans) and then skimmed the next morning, normally by hand (in modem alpine cheese dairies, the fat content of the milk is adjusted using a centrifuge). The skimmed milk from the previous evening is then mixed with milk from the morning milking and poured into copper vats for processing into Alm/Alpkäse. For acidification of the milk and ripening of the cheese, the Bundesanstalt får alpenländische Milchwirtschaft (Federal Office for the Alpine Dairy Industry Rotholz) produces bacterial cultures which are often further cultured at the cheese dairy with precipitated whey (recuite). The use of additives such as anti-oxidants, preservatives, emulsifiers, stabilisers, thickening agents, gelling agents, colourings, peroxides, nitrates and flavourings is not permitted. The pre-ripened vat milk is heated to a temperature of 31-32°C and coagulated by the addition of rennet (only calf rennet is used, no rennet substitute or genetically produced rennet is used). After initial cutting, the curd is left to thicken for a period (gradual separation of the whey) and then cut into pea-sized grains using a cheese harp and, typically for Tiroler Alm/Alpkäse, cooked. This involves heating the curdwhey mixture to 50-54°C while stirring regularly and then leaving it to further coagulate for up to 45 minutes. When the desired consistency is achieved, the curd is removed using cloth and a system of rails and placed in cheese moulds. The curd is then pressed by means of heavy stones, hydraulically or using a system of levers (many cheese dairies still use old traditional presses made from wooden beams). The following morning, the cheese is placed in a brine bath for up to two days. The cheese is then ripened, often in a natural cellar with wide temperature variations (10-18°C) and relative humidity of 90-95%, for around 4/4 to 6 months. During ripening, the cheese is smeared with brine, to which initially a red culture can be added {Brevibacterium linens), producing bacterial flora which makes a considerable contribution to developing flavour. This surface treatment is initially carried out every day, and then less and less frequently. There are also varieties of cheese with a dry smear.