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Cheese from Austria, Tyrol

Tiroler BergkäseTiroler Bergkäse g.U.

Tiroler Bergkäse is a hard mountain cheese of raw hay milk, partly skimmed, set with calf rennet and lactic cultures. The curd is scalded at about 52 °C, pressed and brined, then ripened in humid rooms while the rind is washed with salt water twice a week. The wheels weigh at least 12 kg.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification gives temperatures and brine strength but no batch amounts. A wheel weighs at least 12 kg.
Raw hay milk from North or East TyrolCows fed mainly grass and hay, with no fermented feed; the milk may not be carried from one dairy to another[spec2007][eu1996]
Lactic acid bacteria cultures[spec2007]
Calf rennetCalf stomach rennet only; no substitutes or genetically modified rennet[spec2007][bmluk]
SaltAs a brine of about 20 % sodium chloride[eu1996][bmluk]
Accelerator culturesAdded to the brine compartment only when the needed microorganisms are missing, such as in new equipment or after disinfection[eu1996]
Starterlactic acid bacteria cultures (choice left to the dairy)

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 months

Start
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What changes: Cream is taken off the raw hay milk until about 3 % fat is left

Step 1 of 7
Partly skim the raw milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
L. delbrueckii
Lacticaseibacillus casei

The milk is not heated above milking temperature and not centrifugally cleaned. Output: part-skimmed raw milk.

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

Tiroler Bergkäse is a hard mountain cheese of raw hay milk, partly skimmed, set with calf rennet and lactic cultures. The curd is scalded at about 52 °C, pressed and brined, then ripened in humid rooms while the rind is washed with salt water twice a week. The wheels weigh at least 12 kg. Made in 7 steps over 3 months. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 3 months (Innerbichler H 2026). Salt is 20 % (Application for registration 'Tiroler Bergkäs…). Lactobacillus delbrueckii and Lacticaseibacillus casei group from the raw milk do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 3 monthsReported[innerb2026]Ripen
Temperature52 °CSet[eu1996][bmluk]Scald the curd
Salt20 %Set[eu1996][bmluk]Brine the wheels
AciditypH 5.3Set[eu1996][bmluk]Brine the wheels

What makes this one different

It is a valley-dairy mountain cheese of raw hay milk that is partly skimmed, scalded at about 52 °C and given a washed smear rind. A 2026 study found more Lactobacillus delbrueckii, from its starter, than in a Tyrolean Bergkäse made without the PDO, and more free amino acids, which it ties to the PDO cheese's longer ripening.

Rind
Smeared and dried on, brownish-yellow to brown
Size
Wheel of at least 12 kg
Composition
Fat in dry matter at least 45 %, water at most 40 %, dry matter at least 60 %

Related ferments

Safety

The cheese is made from raw milk, scalded at about 52 °C, brined at about 20 % salt and ripened for months. The registration file says the high scald guaranteed food safety when the cheese was sent to distant cities; it gives no test. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not eliminate or adequately reduce E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses during ageing [fda-rawcheese2016]. ANSES advises pregnant women, people with weak immunity, people over 65 and young children to avoid raw-milk cheese, except cooked pressed cheeses such as Gruyère or Comté [anses2022]. It does not name this cheese.

History and sources

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

The registration file says the making of fat cheese, and so of Bergkäse, spread through Tyrol in the 1840s. It says poor transport led to the cheese, to store and carry the large milk supply of the valleys of the Tyrolean lowland, such as the Zillertal, Unterinntal and Achental. The 2007 single document puts the start of cheese-making in Tyrol around the middle of the 18th century. The name was registered as a PDO in 1997.

  1. [eu1996] Application for registration 'Tiroler Bergkäse g.U.' under Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92, summary sheet (EN), EC No G/AT/1414/95/07/03, national application No 1187-GR/95 (the 2007 single document gives the file number G/AT/1416/95/07/03)spec
  2. [spec2007] Österreichisches Patentamt, HA 7/2007, Einziges Dokument 'Tiroler Bergkäse' (G/AT/1416/95/07/03) under Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 (archived copy)spec
  3. [bmluk] BMLUK Traditionelle Lebensmittel, 'Tiroler Bergkäse g.U.'gov
  4. [innerb2026] Innerbichler H., Trockenbacher A., Höller A. et al. 2026, Characterization of Tiroler Bergkäse PDO cheese, a multimethodological approach, Food Chemistry - Molecular Sciences 100336paper
  5. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  6. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov