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Cheese from Austria, Salzburg

Pinzgauer Bierkäse

A lean semi-hard cheese of pasteurised skimmed cow milk, made with mesophilic lactic acid bacteria. The curd is washed, barely warmed and lightly pressed, and the cheese ripens six weeks while its rind is treated with red-smear cultures. The name is said to come from cloths soaked in beer that once wrapped it.

Fully documentedCheese42 daysnone (Austrian register of traditional foods, no. 70; recognised as a typical Austrian cheese under the Stresa Convention, 1951; Bierkäse is defined in the Austrian Food Codex, chapter B 32)Family: Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNeither source gives doses. Cheeses weigh 2–5 kg, as wheels or rectangles.
Pasteurised skimmed cow milk[bmluk-pinzgauer]
Mesophilic lactic acid bacteria cultures[bmluk-pinzgauer][codex-b32]
Red-smear cultures (Rotschmierkulturen) for the rindThe register entry names no species[bmluk-pinzgauer]
Pepper, optional, sprinkled on the rind[bmluk-pinzgauer]
Startermesophilic lactic acid bacteria; red-smear cultures on the rind (species not named)

Total time across the recorded steps: 42 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Lactic cultures go into the pasteurised skimmed milk

Step 1 of 5
Inoculate the skimmed milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Pasteurised skimmed cow milk gets mesophilic lactic acid bacteria. Skimmed milk was used because the cream went to butter.

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

A lean semi-hard cheese of pasteurised skimmed cow milk, made with mesophilic lactic acid bacteria. The curd is washed, barely warmed and lightly pressed, and the cheese ripens six weeks while its rind is treated with red-smear cultures. The name is said to come from cloths soaked in beer that once wrapped it. Made in 5 steps over 42 days. The longest step, ripen under red smear, takes 42 days (Bundesministerium für Land- und Forstwirtscha…). Mesophilic lactic acid bacteria cultures sour the curd; the sources do not name the species does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step42 daysReported[bmluk-pinzgauer]Ripen under red smear
Temperature36 °CReported[meurer-bierkaese]Warm the milk and set it with rennet

What makes this one different

A low-fat washed-curd cheese with a red-smear rind, made from skimmed milk; the curd is barely warmed and only lightly pressed.

Fat and water
Made at 15 % fat in dry matter (at most 55 % water) and below 15 %; the Codex also lists a lean grade (at most 57 % water) and a 25 % grade (at most 50 % water)
Size
Wheel or rectangle, 2–5 kg
Rind
Smooth, crack-free, moist to dried yellow to red-brown smear; sometimes peppered

Related ferments

Safety

The register entry says the cheese is made from pasteurised cow milk and names traceability controls from farm to consumer and yearly IFS certification at the dairy. The Schaunberghof farm account, which gives this page's 36 °C and one-hour figures, does not say its milk was pasteurised.

History and sources

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

Bierkäse has been made in Austria since the 17th century from skimmed milk. In 1951 Pinzgauer Bierkäse was recognised as a typical Austrian cheese under the Stresa Convention.

  1. [bmluk-pinzgauer] Bundesministerium für Land- und Forstwirtschaft (BMLUK), Traditionelle Lebensmittel in Österreich, register no. 70, 'Pinzgauer Bierkäse'gov
  2. [codex-b32] Österreichisches Lebensmittelbuch, IV. Auflage, Codexkapitel B 32 'Milch und Milchprodukte' (GZ 2022-0.436.082 of 9.1.2023, amended 30.6.2023), section 3.2.1.2.2.7 Bierkäse (web.archive.org copy of the WKO file)spec
  3. [meurer-bierkaese] Meurer M. and Meurer A., Wie der Pinzgauer Bierkäse gemacht wird, SalzburgerLand Magazin (a visit to the Schaunberghof in Niedernsill)web