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Cheese from Germany, Czechia, Austria

Ripened acid-curd cheese family (Harzer, Olomoucké tvarůžky, Gamalost)Harzer Käse

These small, very low-fat cheeses start from skim milk soured to a curd with lactic bacteria and no rennet. The curd is drained, salted and shaped, then ripened from the outside in by yeasts and moulds or by a yellow bacterial smear, which leaves a softer rim and a firm, acid core.

Fully documentedCheese20 days – 35 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe sources we found give no fixed amounts. The figures are the proportions the cited specification and review state for single members of the family, not one tested recipe.
Skim cow milkRaw or pasteurised cow milk, mostly skimmed (Tiroler Graukäse application)[grau-de]
Lactic starter (Säurewecker)2–3 % of the milkFigure from the Tiroler Graukäse application; no rennet is used[grau-de]
SaltSalt adjusted to 4.5 % of the curdFigure from the Olomoucké tvarůžky process described in the review; Tiroler Graukäse is mostly salted and peppered[martin2025][grau-de]
Ripening culture or natural floraSmear bacteria and yeasts, Mucor mould (gamalost), or yeasts, milk mould and grey mould strains (Graukäse)[fei13018][gamalost-forskrift][grau-de]
Starterlactic culture for the quark; then a smear (Brevibacterium linens, coryneform bacteria and yeasts), a Mucor mould (gamalost), or yeasts, milk mould and grey mould strains (Graukäse)

Total time across the recorded steps: 20 days – 35 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria20–25 °CMilk proteinGel (curd)

What changes: Lactic bacteria sour the skim milk until it sets into curd

Step 1 of 6
Sour the skim milk into curd
Time
16–18 h
Reported
Temperature
20–25 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts
Moulds
Brevibacterium linens

Output: sour-milk curd.

Flavour
sour
Texture
soft white gel
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

lactic bacteria sour the milk until the casein sets without rennet

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 small, very low-fat cheeses start from skim milk soured to a curd with lactic bacteria and no rennet. The curd is drained, salted and shaped, then ripened from the outside in by yeasts and moulds or by a yellow bacterial smear, which leaves a softer rim and a firm, acid core. Made in 6 steps over 20 days – 35 days. The longest step, ripen from the outside in, takes 10–21 days (Antrag auf Eintragung 'Tiroler Graukäse g.U.'…) and runs at 18–20 °C (Antrag auf Eintragung 'Tiroler Graukäse g.U.'…). Salt is 4.5 % (Martín-Del-Campo S.T 2025). Lactococcus lactis (subsp. lactis and cremoris), named in a starter for the Olomoucké tvarůžky curd, which sours the skim milk and In Harzer Käse, the yeasts Candida krusei and Kluyveromyces marxianus, which deacidify the curd do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step10–21 daysSet[grau-de]Ripen from the outside in
Temperature18–20 °CSet[grau-de]Ripen from the outside in
Salt4.5 %Reported[martin2025]Salt, season and shape

What makes this one different

Made by lactic souring alone, with no rennet, and ripened from the rind inward by yeasts, moulds or a bacterial smear instead of being eaten fresh like quark.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Olomoucké tvarůžky PGI (Czechia)Made only in the Haná region; golden-to-orange smear; the only autochthonous Czech cheese with PGI status
  • Harzer Käse (Germany)Smear-ripened (yellow cheese); the Harzer research project studied smearing with old cheese to ripen young cheese (the old-young method)
  • Tiroler Graukäse PDOMade in North and East Tyrol from mostly skimmed cow milk by lactic souring alone; ripens from the outside in, with grey mould veining in some areas
  • Gamalost (Norway)Mucor mucedo mould cheese from skimmed soured milk; curd heated in circulating hot whey for 2–3 hours; ripened 2–3 weeks; protected as Gamalost frå Vik, made by TINE SA

Made the ripened acid-curd cheese family way

Other ripened acid-curd cheese family kinds

Made the same way, each with what its own sources record.

Boulette d'Avesnes

Cheese from France, Nord, the Avesnois around Avesnes-sur-Helpe, near the Belgian border

Boulette d'Avesnes is not made from milk but from curd or cheese already made, often broken Maroilles. The paste is kneaded with herbs and spices, shaped into a cone and coated in paprika, then washed with brine or beer.

Milk
Cow milk, as Maroilles curd; originally buttermilk curd
Ripening
two to three monthsReported
Weight
200–300 g

Sources: Androuët; The Good Life France

Chhu / sheden

Cheese from India, Sikkim Himalayas

A cheese-like fermented milk product of the Sikkim Himalayas, made from yak or cow milk. We could not open a source that describes how it is made.

Milk
Yak or cow milk

Brusselse kaas (Fromage de Bruxelles)Brusselse kaas

Cheese from Belgium, Brussels and the Zenne valley

A low-fat cheese ripened by repeated salt-water washing until sharp and pungent, unlike the soft fresh plattekaas of the same city.

Milk
Low-fat cow milk
Ripening
two-to-four monthsReported

Sources: Brussels Beer City; Wikipedia

Mainzer Käse

Cheese from Germany

In the cheese regulation it shares one standard with Harzer; unlike Handkäse it may not be made as a white-mould (Edelschimmel) type.

Fat grade
Magerstufe, the lowest fat grade of the regulation
Weight
25 bis 125gSet
Ripening flora
Yellow or red smear bacteria only; caraway allowed

Sources: Käseverordnung (KäseV)

Prgica

Cheese from Croatia

A dried, smoked and spiced cone of cottage cheese. In a 2013 blind test of it, Turoš and Kvargl, 97 % of the respondents recognised differences between the samples.

Sources: Love Zagreb; Valkaj K.

Queso de Urbiés (cuajada de Urbiés)quesu d'Urbiés

Cheese from Spain, Asturias

Queso de Urbiés uses no rennet at all. Raw milk sours by itself, and the drained curd is stirred for months as a mould spreads through it, closer to fermented cheese pastes than to pressed cheeses.

Rind
None; shapeless, creamy paste sold in pots
Moisture
About 52 % moisture and 25 % protein (Turismo Asturias via Vivir Asturias)

Sources: Vivir Asturias; Wikipedia (es); ANSES 2022

Safety

Listeria monocytogenes has been found in acid curd quark and cheese and can persist in a dairy and spread through the old-young smearing method. Listeria-free quark and defined cultures are the control the Harzer research project recommended.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, which has been found in acid curd quark and can persist in a dairy.

History and sources

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

Tiroler Graukäse was first a use for the skim milk left after butter making, and it became a cheese in its own right over time, according to its 1995 registration application. Olomoucké tvarůžky is first mentioned in 1452 and again in Olomouc's state list of 1583. Norway's Gamalost regulation says the cheese probably reaches back to Viking times; the first sure information is from the late 1700s, including bishop J.E. Gunnerus's 1774 treatise, which already named two methods, the Sogn and the Hardanger.

  1. [grau-de] Antrag auf Eintragung 'Tiroler Graukäse g.U.', Verband der Tiroler Käserei- und Molkereifachleute, 1995 (EU register application file, German)spec
  2. [martin2025] Martín-Del-Campo S.T., Pérez-Alva A., Baigts-Allende D.K. 2025, Czech Cheeses - Their History, Production, and Chemical and Sensory Qualities, Journal of Food Science 90(5):e70261paper
  3. [fei13018] Forschungskreis der Ernährungsindustrie (FEI), AiF 13018 N, Reifungsoptimierung für die Herstellung von Sauermilchkäse (Bundesanstalt für Milchforschung Kiel, 2001–2003), research project summaryother
  4. [gamalost-forskrift] Mattilsynet 2006, Forskrift om vern av produktnemninga Gamalost frå Vik som beskytta geografisk nemning, FOR-2006-11-14-1235 (FAOLEX copy)spec