Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cheese from Germany, the border area of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt

Altenburger Ziegenkäse PDOAltenburger Ziegenkäse

Altenburger Ziegenkäse is a small soft cheese with a white mould rind, made from cow milk with at least 15 % goat milk and optionally flavoured with caraway. The two milks are pasteurised separately, set with mesophilic starter, white mould and rennet at 32–33 °C, and the curd is moulded, dry-salted and ripened for 8–10 days while a white mould coat grows. It may be sold from 14 days old.

Fully documentedCheese8 days – 10 daysPDO (EU, registered 24 January 1997)Family: Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe registration gives the method and limits, not amounts. Each cheese is a 250 g cylinder or a half cylinder.
Cow milk, partly skimmedFrom the production area; pasteurised separately[alt-annex1996]
Goat milkat least 15 % of the cheese milkFrom the production area; pasteurised separately[alt-app1996][kasev-1b][alt-annex1996]
Mesophilic starter cultures[alt-annex1996]
White mould (Penicillium candidum)Added to the milk and again as surface cultures[alt-annex1996]
Rennet[alt-annex1996]
CarawayOptional, mixed into the curd[alt-app1996][alt-annex1996]
Boiled (evaporated) saltFor dry salting[alt-annex1996]
Startermesophilic starter cultures with Penicillium candidum

Total time across the recorded steps: 8 days – 10 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Cow milk and goat milk are pasteurised separately and cooled

Step 1 of 6
Pasteurise the two milks
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Penicillium candidum

Cow milk and goat milk are pasteurised separately, cooled and pre-ripened. The cow milk is partly skimmed.

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

Altenburger Ziegenkäse is a small soft cheese with a white mould rind, made from cow milk with at least 15 % goat milk and optionally flavoured with caraway. The two milks are pasteurised separately, set with mesophilic starter, white mould and rennet at 32–33 °C, and the curd is moulded, dry-salted and ripened for 8–10 days while a white mould coat grows. It may be sold from 14 days old. Made in 6 steps over 8 days – 10 days. The longest step, grow the white mould coat, takes 8–10 days (Bundesministerium der Justiz 1996). Penicillium candidum (white mould), added to the milk and to the surface does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step8–10 daysSet[alt-annex1996]Grow the white mould coat
Temperature32–33 °CSet[alt-annex1996]Mix the milks and add cultures and rennet

What makes this one different

It is a white mould cheese with a Camembert-like bouquet, but the milk is cow milk with at least 15 % goat milk, and caraway may be mixed into the curd. The rules ask for only 30 % fat in dry matter, against at least 45 % for Camembert de Normandie.

Milk
Cow milk with at least 15 % goat milk, both pasteurised
Ripening
White mould ripening for 8–10 days; minimum age 14 days
Size
Cylinder of 250 g at making, or a half cylinder
Composition
Fat in dry matter at least 30 %; dry matter at least 38 %

Related ferments

Variants

  • With carawayCaraway mixed into the curd before moulding.

Safety

The registration says the cow milk and the goat milk are pasteurised separately before cheesemaking.

History and sources

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

A document from 1898 already names Altenburger Ziegenkäse as a traditional cheese of the Altenburger Land. It was first made from raw milk on farms; a little goat milk went in because goat milk was mostly drunk. Goats were the poor family's cow in the area. Commission Regulation (EC) No 123/97, published on 24 January 1997, added the name to the register as a PDO.

  1. [alt-app1996] Bundesministerium der Justiz, Antrag auf Eintragung nach Verordnung (EWG) Nr. 2081/92, 'Altenburger Ziegenkäse' g.U., EC No G/DE/461/26.01.94 (summary sheet, eAmbrosia attachment 71290)spec
  2. [alt-annex1996] Bundesministerium der Justiz 1996, Antrag auf Eintragung 'Altenburger Ziegenkäse' with annex 'Erläuterungen zu Altenburger Ziegenkäse' (history, area and traditional method; eAmbrosia attachment 59463)spec
  3. [kasev-1b] Käseverordnung (KäseV), Anlage 1b, geographical designations, row 'Altenburger Ziegenkäse' (non-official consolidated text of the federal food ministry, as amended to 5 July 2017, hosted by the Bavarian agriculture ministry)gov
  4. [reg-123-1997] Commission Regulation (EC) No 123/97 of 23 January 1997 supplementing the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 1107/96 (registers Altenburger Ziegenkaese as a PDO), OJ L 22, 24.1.1997, pp. 19-20spec