Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cheese from Italy, Trentino-Alto Adige, Prov. Bolzano

Hartkäse Alta Badia (Formaggio duro Alta Badia)Alta Badia

Part-skimmed, pasteurised mountain cow milk is soured with lactic cultures and set with calf rennet. The curd is cut small, semi-cooked, moulded without pressing and brined. The wheels ripen 100 to 365 days while their rind is treated every two days with water and salt and, where used, Brevibacterium linens and yeasts.

Fully documentedCheese3.3 months – 12 monthsTraditional food product (PAT, Autonomous Province of Bolzano; 21st national list, March 2021)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedMade in dairies; the sheets give no batch size or doses. A wheel weighs 8–9 kg.
Mountain cow milk, part-skimmed and pasteurisedThe cows eat pasture grass or hay, with some grain allowed; silage is excluded[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Lactic cultures[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Calf rennet, liquid or powder[onaf-sheet]
Salt (brine)[pat-sheet]
Brevibacterium linens and yeastsApplied to the surface with water and salt during ripening; the sheets list this treatment as optional ("evtl.")[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Starterlactic cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.3 months – 12 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: The mountain milk is part-skimmed and pasteurised

Step 1 of 7
Skim and pasteurise the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Brevibacterium linens
Yeasts
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

Part-skimmed, pasteurised mountain cow milk is soured with lactic cultures and set with calf rennet. The curd is cut small, semi-cooked, moulded without pressing and brined. The wheels ripen 100 to 365 days while their rind is treated every two days with water and salt and, where used, Brevibacterium linens and yeasts. Made in 7 steps over 3.3 months – 12 months. The longest step, ripen with a treated rind, takes 3.3–12 months (Autonomous Province of Bolzano). Brevibacterium linens and Yeasts do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3.3–12 monthsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen with a treated rind
Temperature35–37 °CReported[onaf-sheet]Add cultures and rennet

What makes this one different

ONAF says it has one of the longest ripening processes of the local cheeses, up to a year. Its rind is treated every two days with water and salt and, where used, Brevibacterium linens and yeasts. The paste is closed, with no eyes.

Rind
Hard, dry, rustic, amber yellow
Size
Cylinder about 50 cm across and about 10 cm high, 8–9 kg
Season
Made all year

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is pasteurised before cheesemaking.

History and sources

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

The province's form ties the cheese to the long dairy tradition of the Val Pusteria and the Brunico dairy. It was added to the national list of traditional products in March 2021.

  1. [pat-sheet] Autonomous Province of Bolzano, PAT product form no. 10 'Hartkäse / Formaggio duro Alta Badia' (Art. 8 D.Lgs. 173/98), copy hosted by ONAFgov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Hartkäse Alta Badia (Formaggio duro Alta Badia)'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Hartkäse Alta Badia' (id 1253)web