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Cheese from Austria, Vorarlberg

Bregenzerwälder Alpkäse and BergkäseBregenzerwälder Alpkäse

These are the hard raw-milk cheeses of the Bregenzerwald, made from silage-free hay or alp milk in copper vats with calf rennet and each dairy's own whey or lactic culture. The part-skimmed milk is set, cut to pea size, cooked to about 51–52.5 °C, pressed and brined for two to three days. Wheels ripen for months at 12–15 °C, brushed with salt water, and are judged from six months to two years.

Fully documentedCheese3 days – 4 daysAustrian register of traditional foods (no. 151). The Bregenzerwald lies inside the area of the Vorarlberger Bergkäse PDO, and the Vorarlberger Alpkäse PDO covers Vorarlberg's summer alpsFamily: Cooked hard alpine cheese family (Comté, Gruyère and Emmentaler as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedVillage and alp dairy cheese with no fixed batch size. Wheels are usually 55–60 cm across.
Raw cow milkFrom silage-free grassland farms; not thermised, bactofuged or pasteurised; Alpkäse uses alp milk only[bmluk-151][eamb-vbk]
Calf rennetNo genetically engineered rennet[bmluk-151][eamb-vbk]
The dairy's own whey or lactic culture[bmluk-151][eamb-vbk]
SaltBrine bath and salt-water rind care[bmluk-151]
Startereach dairy's own whey or lactic culture

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 days – 4 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Starting material: raw milk from cows fed hay and alpine grass, no silage

Step 1 of 8
Collect raw hay or alp 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

Milk comes from farms that feed no silage, is delivered at least once a day and is made into cheese on arrival, never moved between dairies. Alpkäse uses alp milk only, during the 3–4 month summer season.

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

These are the hard raw-milk cheeses of the Bregenzerwald, made from silage-free hay or alp milk in copper vats with calf rennet and each dairy's own whey or lactic culture. The part-skimmed milk is set, cut to pea size, cooked to about 51–52.5 °C, pressed and brined for two to three days. Wheels ripen for months at 12–15 °C, brushed with salt water, and are judged from six months to two years. Made in 8 steps over 3 days – 4 days. The longest step, brine, takes 2–3 days (BMLUK (Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture)). In the related Vorarlberger Bergkäse, the study's starter cultures were Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactococcus delbrueckii spp. lactis and Lactobacillus casei does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–3 daysReported[bmluk-151]Brine
Temperature51–52.5 °CReported[bmluk-151]Cook the grains

What makes this one different

Bregenzerwald cheese comes from one of Europe's largest silage-free hay-milk regions and is made in small village and alp dairies with their own whey cultures. Alpkäse is made only in the summer alp season from alp milk, while Bergkäse may use either alp or valley milk.

Composition
Over 45% fat in dry matter
Related Vorarlberger Bergkäse PDO application
Brine bath of around 20% sodium chloride; rind brushed twice a week with brine of around 20% at pH around 5.25; ready to eat at 3 to 6 months at the earliest
Size
Wheels usually 55–60 cm across

Related ferments

Variants

  • AlpkäseSummer alp milk only, made by hand in copper vats during the 3–4 month alp season
  • BergkäseEither alp or valley milk, both raw and silage-free

Safety

The cheese is made from raw milk that is not thermised or pasteurised, and it ripens for months at 12–15 °C.

History and sources

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

Until the late 17th century only sour cheese from skimmed milk was made, and butter paid the taxes. After the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) herders from Appenzell brought fat-cheese making, and in the early 18th century farmers won out against bans on fat cheese. From 1816 Schwarzenberg was the main cheese market, and cheese went across the Habsburg lands to Italy and Greece.

  1. [bmluk-151] BMLUK (Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture), Traditionelle Lebensmittel register no. 151, 'Bregenzerwälder Alp- und Bergkäse' (information from KäseStrasse Bregenzerwald)gov
  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.' (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):1851 (study of Vorarlberger Bergkäse rinds)paper