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Cheese from Austria, Vorarlberg

Vorarlberger Bergkäse PDOVorarlberger Bergkäse

Raw milk from cows fed without silage is partly skimmed, set with calf rennet and a whey culture, cooked to 51–54 °C and pressed into large wheels. After two to three days in strong brine, the wheels ripen for at least three months while the rind is brushed with salt water, which grows a brown smear rind.

Fully documentedCheese3.1 months – 18 monthsPDO (EU, 1997; specification amended 2023)Family: Cooked hard alpine cheese family (Comté, Gruyère and Emmentaler as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. Each wheel weighs 7–40 kg and stands 8–12 cm high.
Raw cow milkFrom Vorarlberg only; not thermised, pasteurised or bactofuged; no fermented feed or silage[vbk-spec2023]
Calf rennet[vbk-spec2023]
Whey culture and lactic acid bacteria culturesA central base culture of traditional wild strains, then grown on in each dairy[vbk-spec2023]
SaltFor the brine bath and for washing the rind[vbk-spec2023]
No preservatives, stabilisers or chemical additives[vbk-spec2023]
Starterwhey culture or lactic culture grown by the cheesemaker; the rind flora is not inoculated

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.1 months – 18 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: raw milk from cows fed grass and hay, never silage

Step 1 of 7
Collect silage-free raw milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
S. thermophilus
Lactococcus delbrueckii
Lactobacillus casei
Staphylococcus equorum
Debaryomyces

Only farms that make and feed no silage may deliver; milk is never heat-treated.

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

Raw milk from cows fed without silage is partly skimmed, set with calf rennet and a whey culture, cooked to 51–54 °C and pressed into large wheels. After two to three days in strong brine, the wheels ripen for at least three months while the rind is brushed with salt water, which grows a brown smear rind. Made in 7 steps over 3.1 months – 18 months. The longest step, ripen at least three months, takes 3–18 months (European Commission 2023). Salt is 20 % (Quijada N.M. et al. 2020). Starter lactic cultures and Staphylococcus equorum, the only rind organism highly present at every ripening time in both facilities studied do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3–18 monthsReported[vbk-spec2023][quijada2020]Ripen at least three months
Temperature51–54 °CSet[vbk-spec2023]Cut and cook the curd
Salt20 %Reported[quijada2020]Salt in a brine bath

What makes this one different

It is a cooked, pressed mountain cheese like Gruyère, but the milk is skimmed a little and set with each dairy's own whey culture. The rind is brushed with salt water all through ripening, so it carries a smear of yeasts and coryneform bacteria that is never inoculated.

Milk
Raw cow milk from Vorarlberg, partly skimmed; no silage or fermented feed
Paste
Hard, cooked to 51–54 °C, pressed; sparse pea-sized round holes
Ripening
At least 3 months
Rind
Smear-ripened to dried, brownish-yellow to brown and granular
Size
Wheels of 7–40 kg, 8–12 cm high

Related ferments

Variants

  • Vorarlberger AlpkäseHas its own PDO application, made only in the summer months on officially recognised alpine farms at about 1,000–1,800 m.

Safety

This is a raw-milk cheese. A 2025 study of Alpine raw-milk cheeses names a high scalding temperature, good starter cultures and clean milk as the hurdles that keep Staphylococcus aureus and its toxins down; this cheese is scalded at 51–54 °C and ripened at least three months.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus and its enterotoxins, a known risk in Alpine raw-milk cheeses.

History and sources

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

The specification dates fat cheese making in the area to the middle of the 18th century, when altitude, climate and small farms favoured a cheese that kept. Around 1890 local cheese associations began to pool know-how; cooperatives later replaced them. The name was registered as a PDO in 1997 and the specification was rewritten in 2023.

  1. [vbk-spec2023] European Commission 2023, Publication of an application for approval of a non-minor amendment to the product specification, 'Vorarlberger Bergkäse' PDO-AT-1419-AM01, Official Journal C 156, 3.5.2023, pp. 45ff (approved OJ L 219, 6.9.2023)spec
  2. [eamb-vbk] Vorarlberger Sennenverband, Application for registration of the PDO Vorarlberger Bergkäse under Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 (1997), eAmbrosia attachment 62970spec
  3. [val-app1996] European Commission, application for registration under Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92, 'Vorarlberger Alpkäse g.U.', EC No G/AT/1413/95.07.03 (summary sheet, eAmbrosia attachment 72170)spec
  4. [quijada2020] Quijada N.M. et al. 2020, Austrian raw-milk hard-cheese ripening involves successional dynamics of non-inoculated bacteria and fungi, Foods 9(12):1851paper
  5. [berger2025] Berger T.F.H. et al. 2025, Critical factors affecting the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus and staphylococcal enterotoxins in raw milk cheese in the Alpine region of Austria, Italy, and Switzerland, Foods 14:2176 (abstract)paper