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Cheese from Netherlands, Friesland and the Westerkwartier

Friese Nagelkaas (Kanternagelkaas PDO)Friese nagelkaas

The Frisian clove cheese, a hard, low-fat cheese of part-skimmed cow milk spiced with whole cloves. The pasteurised milk is set at about 30 °C with a mixed starter, the curd is washed, cut into strips and mixed with cloves and salt before it is milled, pressed for a long time and brined. It ripens at least four weeks.

Fully documentedCheese28 daysProtected as Kanternagelkaas, one of the three names of the Kanterkaas PDO (EU, registered 1999; PDO-NL-0059); 'Friese nagelkaas' itself is not a registered nameFamily: Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification gives temperatures and fat limits but no spice amounts. Wheels weigh 3.0–8.5 kg.
Cow milk, standardised to 20+ or 40+ fat and pasteurised[kanter-pd]
Calf or bovine rennet[kanter-pd]
Mixed starter culture suited to Kanterkaas[kanter-pd]
Whole cloves[kanter-pd]
Cumin, sometimes, in a very small amount[kanter-pd]
Salt, on the curd strips and as brine[kanter-pd]
Startermixed starter culture of acidifying bacteria

Total time across the recorded steps: 28 days

Start
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72 °C

What changes: The part-skimmed milk is pasteurised at about 72 °C for 15 seconds

Step 1 of 7
Thermise, standardise and pasteurise
Time
0.2 min
Set
Temperature
72 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Milk arrives at about 4 °C and is thermised within a few hours, then skimmed to the 20+ or 40+ fat level. In the past the skim milk left from butter-making was used.

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

The Frisian clove cheese, a hard, low-fat cheese of part-skimmed cow milk spiced with whole cloves. The pasteurised milk is set at about 30 °C with a mixed starter, the curd is washed, cut into strips and mixed with cloves and salt before it is milled, pressed for a long time and brined. It ripens at least four weeks. Made in 7 steps over 28 days. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 28 days (RVO (Netherlands Enterprise Agency) 2081) and runs at at least 12 °C (RVO (Netherlands Enterprise Agency) 2081). Mixed starter culture of lactic bacteria suited to Kanterkaas, which acidifies the curd does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 28 daysSet[kanter-pd]Ripen
Temperatureat least 12 °CSet[kanter-pd]Ripen

What makes this one different

The cloves go onto strips of curd before it is milled, so they are spread through the whole cheese, and it is made from part-skimmed milk in the old Frisian 'kanter' shape.

Fat
20+ type with 20–25 % fat in dry matter and at most 48.5 % moisture; 40+ type with 40–44 % fat in dry matter and at most 41.5 % moisture
Size
Flat cylinder with a sharp lower edge, 3.0–8.5 kg
Ripening
At least 4 weeks at 12 °C or more; eaten from 4 weeks to over a year old

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is pasteurised at about 72 °C for 15 seconds, and the cheese ripens at least four weeks.

History and sources

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

By about 1850 kanter cheese had become the common cheese of Friesland, and clove kanter cheese boomed in the second half of that century. A 1725 rule of the States-General let only spiced cheese pass as Kanterkaas, so the added spices once also served as a control mark.

  1. [kanter-pd] RVO (Netherlands Enterprise Agency), Productdossier BOB Kanterkaas, Kanternagelkaas, Kanterkomijnekaas (registration application under Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92, file 010/98)spec
  2. [kanter-gi] European Commission, eAmbrosia register entry 'Kanterkaas / Kanternagelkaas / Kanterkomijnekaas', PDO-NL-0059, EU protection from 30.12.1999gov
  3. [wp-nagelkaas] Wikipedia, Friesian Clove (supports only that Friese nagelkaas is an unprotected name variant of kanterkaas)wiki