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Cheese from Germany and Austria

Butterkäse

Butterkäse is a mild to mildly sour, semi-soft cheese from cow milk. The curd is set with rennet and a mesophilic starter, cut small, washed hard with warm water and lightly warmed, then pressed and brined. The Austrian Food Codex has it ripen at about 10 °C in paraffin, foil or a natural rind.

Fully documentedCheese3.5 days – 4.5 daysStandard cheese variety (Käsestandardsorte) in German law (MilchPQV, Anlage 4); Austrian Food Codex chapter B 32Family: Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo published recipe gives amounts per litre. The numbers below come from one large German plant making 15 kg foil-ripened blocks of Butterkäse with 45 % fat in dry matter (Fliegel 2009), checked against the legal descriptions in Germany and Austria.
Cow milkStandardised for fat and protein; one German plant adds skim-milk concentrate and milk protein concentrate[fliegel2009]
Mesophilic acidifying cultureThe thesis, quoting Spreer 1995, lists the Butterkäse culture type as active in acid formation with very little or no aroma and CO2 formation; the plant doses its starter in-line as lactic acid bacteria with aroma formers[fliegel2009]
Calcium chloride (34 % solution), rennet, and sometimes beta-carotene for colourAdded in the vat according to each recipe[fliegel2009]
Warm waterReplaces part of the whey to wash the curd[fliegel2009][codex-at-b32]
SaltTaken up in a brine bath[fliegel2009]
Startermesophilic lactic acidifying culture; rennet

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.5 days – 4.5 days

Start
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65 °C

What changes: The milk is heated gently, cooled, standardised and left to pre-ripen

Step 1 of 7
Thermise, standardise and pre-ripen the milk
Time
10 h
Reported
Temperature
65 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Streptococcus lactis

Fat is set to the protein content; spore-forming bacteria are removed by bactofugation. Output: standardised cheese milk, briefly pasteurised before use.

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

Butterkäse is a mild to mildly sour, semi-soft cheese from cow milk. The curd is set with rennet and a mesophilic starter, cut small, washed hard with warm water and lightly warmed, then pressed and brined. The Austrian Food Codex has it ripen at about 10 °C in paraffin, foil or a natural rind. Made in 7 steps over 3.5 days – 4.5 days. The longest step, brine, takes 3–4 days (Fliegel J. 2009). Salt is 3.7 % (Fliegel J. 2009). Mesophilic lactic acid bacteria and aroma formers of the starter culture does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3–4 daysReported[fliegel2009]Brine
Temperature65 °CReported[fliegel2009]Thermise, standardise and pre-ripen the milk
Salt3.7 %Reported[fliegel2009]Brine
AciditypH 5.7–5.9Reported[fliegel2009]Mould and press

What makes this one different

Butterkäse is a washed-curd cheese like Gouda and Edamer, and the plant studied makes all three on one line. The Austrian Food Codex calls it strongly washed in the curd. The thesis, quoting Spreer 1995, gives the Butterkäse culture type very little or no aroma and CO2 formation, where the Gouda and Edamer type forms strong aroma and CO2 in ripening. German law describes the taste as mild and finely sour, where Gouda is mild to slightly piquant and not sour.

Legal group
Germany lists Butterkäse as a semi-firm sliceable cheese (halbfester Schnittkäse), with 61–69 % water in the fat-free cheese for the group
Dry matter (Germany)
At least 48, 50 or 55 % dry matter at the full-fat, cream and double-cream fat levels
Fat and water (Austria)
45 % fat in dry matter as the reference, with at most 54 % water; 50 % fat allows 52 % water and 55 % fat allows 50 %
Size
Germany allows 250 g to 20 kg. Austria describes loaves up to about 1.5 kg, bars up to about 2 kg and blocks up to about 16 kg
Ripening
No legal minimum age in Germany; ripened at about 10 °C in Austria

Related ferments

Variants

  • Algunder Butterkäse (South Tyrol)A traditional cheese of the Burggrafenamt that uses the name; it is made from pasteurised whole milk with added cream, the curd is warmed to 38 °C, and it ripens 60 days at 14 °C. It differs from German Butterkäse.

Safety

Industrial Butterkäse is made from thermised and then pasteurised milk, and bactofugation removes spore-forming bacteria that spoil cheese.

History and sources

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

German food law listed Butterkäse as a standard cheese variety in the Käseverordnung (Anlage 1). That ordinance lapsed on 14 June 2026, and the list now sits in the Milchproduktqualitätsverordnung with the same dry-matter and weight rules.

  1. [milchpqv] Milchproduktqualitätsverordnung (MilchPQV) of 24 November 2025 (BGBl. 2025 I Nr. 280), § 32 and Anlage 4, section A (Butterkäse), in force from 14 June 2026spec
  2. [kasev] Käseverordnung (KäseV), Anlage 1, standard varieties (buzer.de page showing the old and new text of the amendment of 9 June 2021; the Butterkäse row is the same in both)spec
  3. [codex-at-b32] Österreichisches Lebensmittelbuch (Austrian Food Codex), chapter B 32, 3.2.1.2.3.3 Butterkäsespec
  4. [fliegel2009] Fliegel J. 2009, Optimierung der Schnittkäseproduktion durch Verringerung von Inhaltsstoffschwankungen im Käse, Diplomarbeit, Hochschule Neubrandenburg (study at the Humana cheese plant in Altentreptow)other
  5. [pat-algunder] Provincia autonoma di Bolzano, traditional food product (PAT) sheet "Algunder Butterkäse (formaggio di Lagundo)" (copy hosted by ONAF)gov