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Cheese from Switzerland, eastern and central Alps

Swiss semi-hard regional Alpkäse (Bündner, St. Galler, Urner, Nidwaldner, Schwägalp)Chaschiel d'alp dal Grischun

Full-fat, semi-hard wheels made on summer alps from raw cow milk, set with calf rennet and lactic cultures (in Grisons, St. Gallen, Uri and Nidwalden grown by the herders from a stock culture). The curd is cooked to 42–47 °C, pressed, brined and ripened at no more than 18 °C with a rind brushed with salt water. It is sold mild after 2–3 months.

Fully documentedCheese2.3 months – 6.6 monthsnone for the cheeses; Swiss law reserves the word «Alp» for food made in the summering area (Berg- und Alp-Verordnung)Family: Cooked hard alpine cheese family (Comté, Gruyère and Emmentaler as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedAlp cheesemaking with no fixed batch size. Wheels weigh 4–8 kg.
Raw cow milkEvening milk cooled overnight and partly skimmed, mixed with fresh morning milk[patrimoine-ch][patrimoine-ch-2]
Lactic acid bacteria culturesIn Grisons, St. Gallen, Uri and Nidwalden, propagated by the alp herders from a stock culture[patrimoine-ch][patrimoine-ch-2][patrimoine-ch-4]
Calf rennet[patrimoine-ch][patrimoine-ch-2]
SaltFor the brine bath and the salt water brushed on the rind[patrimoine-ch]
Starterlactic cultures; in Grisons, St. Gallen, Uri and Nidwalden the herders propagate them from a stock culture (in Grisons, from checked mother strains)

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.3 months – 6.6 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
68 °C

What changes: Cooled evening milk, partly skimmed, is mixed with fresh morning milk

Step 1 of 8
Mix evening and morning milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
68 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
Moulds

The evening milk is cooled overnight and partly skimmed so the cheese reaches full fat. Output: cheese milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Full-fat, semi-hard wheels made on summer alps from raw cow milk, set with calf rennet and lactic cultures (in Grisons, St. Gallen, Uri and Nidwalden grown by the herders from a stock culture). The curd is cooked to 42–47 °C, pressed, brined and ripened at no more than 18 °C with a rind brushed with salt water. It is sold mild after 2–3 months. Made in 8 steps over 2.3 months – 6.6 months. The longest step, ripen in the alp and valley cellars, takes 2–6 months (Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz 2004) and runs at up to 18 °C (Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz 2004).

Key numbers
Main step2–6 monthsReported[patrimoine-ch][patrimoine-ch-2][patrimoine-ch-4]Ripen in the alp and valley cellars
Temperatureup to 18 °CReported[patrimoine-ch][patrimoine-ch-2][patrimoine-ch-3][patrimoine-ch-4][patrimoine-ch-5]Ripen in the alp and valley cellars

What makes this one different

These semi-hard alp wheels are cooked to 42–47 °C, where the sources say a hard cheese is heated to over 50 °C, and are sold after 2–3 months of ripening. Schwägalpkäse is made from thermised milk in one shared alp dairy, not in single alp huts.

Size
4–8 kg (Bündner 4–6, St. Galler 4–7, Urner 6–8 kg about 30 cm, Nidwaldner 6–8 kg, Schwägalp about 5 kg, 28 cm)
Fat
At least 45 % fat in dry matter (Bündner, St. Galler, Urner, Nidwaldner); St. Galler often near the upper limit of 54 %
Producers
115 alps listed in Grisons in September 2016; 36 alps in St. Gallen; about 60 herders in Uri; about a dozen alps in Nidwalden; over 50 herders deliver milk to the one cooperatively run alp dairy on the Schwägalp

Related ferments

Variants

  • Bündner Alpkäse (Chaschiel d'alp dal Grischun)Cultures grown in Grisons from checked mother strains; 4–6 kg.
  • St. Galler AlpkäseCooked to only 42 °C; 4–7 kg.
  • Urner Alpkäse6–8 kg wheels about 30 cm across.
  • Nidwaldner AlpkäseMade on about a dozen alps; 6–8 kg.
  • SchwägalpkäseThermised milk at 68 °C; made in one cooperative dairy on the Schwägalp; 24 h in brine.

Safety

Bündner, St. Galler, Urner and Nidwaldner Alpkäse are raw-milk cheeses; Schwägalpkäse is made from thermised milk heated briefly to 68 °C. The wheels are sold after 2–3 months of ripening in cellars kept at or below 18 °C. For the raw-milk wheels, the US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not remove E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses while they age. The CDC says people at higher risk, including pregnant women, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity, should avoid raw-milk cheese unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

In Grisons cheesemaking played a minor role until well into the 19th century. The exception was the Engadine, where fat rennet cheese was made for export in the 16th century; a jurist's record of 1556 says rennet cheesemaking came to Grisons from Italy around 1530. From the second half of the 19th century the first courses for alp cheesemakers appeared; a dairy advisory service followed in the 1920s and from the early 20th century cooperative alp dairies increasingly took the place of single alp dairies. These measures raised quality.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [balv] Swiss Federal Council, Verordnung über die Verwendung der Bezeichnungen «Berg» und «Alp» (Berg- und Alp-Verordnung, BAlV), SR 910.19, 25 May 2011 (status 1 January 2021), Art. 8gov
  2. [patrimoine-ch] Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz, 'Bündner Alpkäse', Inventar des kulinarischen Erbes der Schweiz (national inventory decided at federal level, compiled 2004–2009 with federal and cantonal support)archive
  3. [patrimoine-ch-2] Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz, 'St. Galler Alpkäse', Inventar des kulinarischen Erbes der Schweiz (national inventory decided at federal level, compiled 2004–2009 with federal and cantonal support)archive
  4. [patrimoine-ch-3] Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz, 'Urner Alpkäse', Inventar des kulinarischen Erbes der Schweiz (national inventory decided at federal level, compiled 2004–2009 with federal and cantonal support)archive
  5. [patrimoine-ch-4] Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz, 'Nidwaldner Alpkäse', Inventar des kulinarischen Erbes der Schweiz (national inventory decided at federal level, compiled 2004–2009 with federal and cantonal support)archive
  6. [patrimoine-ch-5] Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz, 'Schwägalpkäse', Inventar des kulinarischen Erbes der Schweiz (national inventory decided at federal level, compiled 2004–2009 with federal and cantonal support)archive
  7. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  8. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov