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Cheese from Germany, Bavaria

ObatzdaObazda

Obatzda is a Bavarian spread, not a cheese made from milk. Ripe, soft Camembert or Brie is broken up and mixed with butter, paprika and salt, and optionally onion, beer or caraway, into an orange spread with pieces of cheese in it. The fermentation happened earlier, in the cheese it is made from.

Recipe

Obatzda, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Rainer Z ..., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceThe specification is a frame recipe; amounts are minimum or maximum shares of the finished spread. Processed cheese, yoghurt, crème fraîche and sour cream are not allowed.
Camembert and/or BrieAt least 40 % of the finished spreadWell ripened and soft; may be topped up with Romadur, Limburger or fresh cheese (also quark)[lfl-obazda]
Cheese in totalAt least 50 % of the finished spread, all cheese together[lfl-obazda]
Butter80–90 % milk fat[lfl-obazda]
Paprika powder and/or paprika extractFor the red-orange colour[lfl-obazda]
Salt[lfl-obazda]
Onion and beer, optionalAt most 15 % of the finished spread, together[lfl-obazda]
Cream, milk or milk or whey protein, caraway, other spices and herbs, optional[lfl-obazda]
Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countPenicillium candidumMouldsYeasts

What changes: The soft cheese ripens until it is creamy and spicy, before it is used

Step 1 of 5
Ripen the Camembert or Brie beforehand
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Penicillium candidum
Moulds
Yeasts

The cheese is ripened in its own make, before it reaches the Obazda maker. The 2015 single document says both Camembert and Brie taste spicier with age and that the spread was invented so strongly ripened cheese could still be eaten.

Flavour
slightly spicy taste of well-ripened cheese
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

Obatzda is a Bavarian spread, not a cheese made from milk. Ripe, soft Camembert or Brie is broken up and mixed with butter, paprika and salt, and optionally onion, beer or caraway, into an orange spread with pieces of cheese in it. The fermentation happened earlier, in the cheese it is made from. Penicillium candidum, the white rind mould, and harmless added cultures of bacteria, yeasts and moulds, in Camembert de Normandie, a related Camembert does most of the fermenting.

What makes this one different

Obatzda is not fermented itself. It is a protected spread made by mixing already ripened Camembert or Brie with butter and paprika, so its flavour comes from the bloomy-rind cheese. The rules set minimum cheese shares and a short list of allowed extras.

Cheese share
At least 40 % Camembert or Brie and at least 50 % cheese in total
Onion and beer
At most 15 % of the spread together
Traditional mix
Wikipedia describes two parts aged soft cheese, usually Camembert, to one part butter, seasoned with paprika, salt and pepper and a little beer, and calls it a classic of Bavarian beer-garden food; the PGI rules above are what bind a protected Obazda
Where made
Made in Bavaria; the ingredients may come from elsewhere

Related ferments

Safety

Lower Saxony's food office (2022) lists soft cheeses, especially red-smear ones such as Romadur, among foods with a particular Listeria risk, and says Listeria can multiply between about -0.4 and 45 °C, so also in a refrigerator. The Obazda specification allows Romadur and Limburger, so this applies to some recipes. The same office says growth is slowed in foods that are low in moisture, high in salt or acid.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, named by Lower Saxony's food office as the one listeriosis pathogen and as able to multiply at refrigerator temperatures (a general hazard of soft cheeses, not measured in Obazda).

History and sources

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

The 2015 single document says the Bavarian catering trade invented the spread so that strongly ripened Camembert or Brie could still be eaten, and ties the spread to Bavarian beer gardens, whose history it says goes back more than 150 years. It says the spread's reputation outside Bavaria is likely owed to Katharina Eisenreich, landlady of the Bräustüberl Weihenstephan from 1920 until 1958. The name 'Obazda' / 'Obatzter' was entered in the EU register as a protected geographical indication (PGI) by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1002 of 16 June 2015, after Germany's application was published in the Official Journal on 14 February 2015. The Bavarian control authority LfL dates the protection from June 2015. Products that do not meet the specification may still be sold under regional names such as 'Gerupfter', but not as 'nach Art Obazda'.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Process times
The sources we found give no figure for how long any of its steps take.
Temperature, salt and pH
The sources we found give no temperature, salt or pH figure for any of its steps.
  1. [lfl-obazda] Bayerische Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft (LfL), Information zur Herstellung von „Obazda / Obatzter" g.g.A. in der Gastronomie (summary of the product specification, version 7e of 24 Oct 2014), 27 Sep 2017gov
  2. [oj-c55-2015] Publication of an application, single document 'Obazda'/'Obatzter' (PGI), Official Journal of the European Union C 55, 14.2.2015, p. 15 (Publications Office copy)spec
  3. [bo-cam2013] INAO, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine « Camembert de Normandie », homologated by decree no. 2013-1059 of 22 November 2013 (BO-Agri no. 48-2013), used here only for the microbes of a related Camembertspec
  4. [laves-listerien] Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit (LAVES), Listerien (information sheet, 2022)gov
  5. [eu-2015-1002] Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1002 of 16 June 2015 entering 'Obazda' / 'Obatzter' (PGI) in the registerspec
  6. [wp-obatzda] Wikipedia, Obatzdawiki