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Cheese from Slovakia, the mountain part of the country

Slovenský oštiepok PGISlovenský oštiepok

Sheep milk, cow milk or a mix is set with rennet at 32–35 °C, and the curd is gathered into lumps, dipped in hot whey and hand-shaped into a large egg or cone pressed in a carved ring. After 12–24 hours in brine the cheese is hung to dry and smoked over hardwood until golden. Dairies make it from pasteurised milk with a Lactococcus culture and steam the curd at 55 °C or more.

Fully documentedCheese38 h – 4.1 daysPGI (EU), entered in the register by Commission Regulation (EC) No 943/2008 of 25 September 2008; on the Lisbon register of appellations since 1967Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification sets temperatures and times but no amounts. One farm lump weighs 0.3–0.8 kg.
Fresh raw sheep milk, or sheep and cow milk mixed (farm method); pasteurised sheep, cow or mixed milk (dairy method)Sheep breeds Valaška, improved Valaška and Cigája[sk-spec]
Original culture of lactic bacteria of the genus Lactococcus isolated from Slovak sheep milk and cheese (dairy method)[sk-spec]
Rennet[sk-spec]
Salt, as brine[sk-spec]
Hardwood smoke, free of ash and dust[sk-spec]
Starteroriginal Lactococcus culture (dairy method)

Total time across the recorded steps: 38 h – 4.1 days

Start
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shapes, not to countLactococcus32–35 °C

What changes: Rennet goes into the warm sheep milk and it sets in half an hour

Step 1 of 6
Set the milk
Time
30 min
Set
Temperature
32–35 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus

In dairies the milk is pasteurised at no less than 73 °C for 15 seconds, then cultured and renneted at 32–38 °C.

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

Sheep milk, cow milk or a mix is set with rennet at 32–35 °C, and the curd is gathered into lumps, dipped in hot whey and hand-shaped into a large egg or cone pressed in a carved ring. After 12–24 hours in brine the cheese is hung to dry and smoked over hardwood until golden. Dairies make it from pasteurised milk with a Lactococcus culture and steam the curd at 55 °C or more. Made in 6 steps over 38 h – 4.1 days. The longest step, smoke, takes 24 h – 3 days (Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Repu…). Lactococcus does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 h – 3 daysSet[sk-spec]Smoke
Temperature32–35 °CSet[sk-spec]Set the milk

What makes this one different

Shaped by hand in hot whey and pressed into a carved ring, which gives it its pattern, and then brined and smoked. The PGI also allows cow milk alone, and dairy versions use pasteurised milk and a Lactococcus culture.

Milk
Sheep, cow or mixed milk; raw on the salaš, pasteurised (73 °C, 15 s) in dairies
Shape
A large egg, cone or ellipse with carved ornaments on the middle and stamps on the ends
Composition
Dry matter at least 48%, fat in dry matter at least 38.0%
Minerals
19 samples averaged 8083 mg sodium and 6850 mg calcium per kg

Related ferments

Safety

Dairy oštiepok is made from pasteurised milk (at least 73 °C for 15 seconds); the farm cheese uses raw milk. In a Slovak study of curd for other pasta-filata cheeses, counts of coagulase-positive staphylococci and E. coli rose during the first 24 hours, lactic cultures slowed the rise, and steaming the curd at about 55 °C lowered the counts by only 0.58 and 1.23 log CFU/g. That study did not test oštiepok.

Hazards the sources name: In 'Nite' string cheeses, a Slovak pasta-filata cheese (not oštiepok), coagulase-positive staphylococci and Escherichia coli grew in the curd in the first 24 hours; steaming cut them only by 0.58 and 1.23 log CFU/g.

History and sources

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

The specification says written reports and family records of old bryndza makers show oštiepok was made in the early 18th century. It says the Galbavá family laid the foundations of mass industrial production, with cow milk, in Detva in 1921, and that the name entered the Lisbon register on 22 November 1967.

  1. [sk-spec] Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic, Špecifikácia "Slovenský oštiepok" CHZO (application under Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006)spec
  2. [snirc2020] Šnirc M. et al. 2020, Content of Mineral Elements in the Traditional Oštiepok Cheese, Biological Trace Element Research 196(2):639-645 (abstract)paper
  3. [medvedova2020] Medveďová A. et al. 2020, Effect of Lactic Acid Bacteria Addition on the Microbiological Safety of Pasta-Filata Types of Cheeses, Frontiers in Microbiology 11:612528 (abstract)paper
  4. [reg943] Commission Regulation (EC) No 943/2008 of 25 September 2008 entering certain names in the Register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications, Official Journal L 258, 26.9.2008, p. 52 (Slovenský oštiepok (PGI), class 1.3 cheeses)spec