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Cheese from Hungary and the former Yugoslavia

Trappista (Hungary)trappista sajt

Trappista is a salted, ripened, semi-hard cow cheese set with rennet, with small round fermentation eyes. The Hungarian Food Codex defines it as made from cow milk with a lactic acid bacteria culture and a coagulating enzyme, and fixes its shape, size and composition. A 2025 amending decree calls it the most popular kind of cheese.

Fully documentedCheese28 daysHungarian Food Codex (Magyar Élelmiszerkönyv) binding provisions, decree 152/2009 (XI. 12.) FVM, section 4.5 "Trappista sajt"Family: Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template)

Recipe

Trappista (Hungary), a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Shabicht, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
No fixed amounts recordedThe Codex lists the allowed ingredients and the limits for the finished cheese, not a recipe or amounts. No readable source gives a dairy's make sheet.
Cow milkThe Codex also allows skim or part-skim milk, milk adjusted in fat or protein by membrane separation, or mixtures of these[fvm152]
CreamListed as an allowed ingredient[fvm152]
Lactic acid bacteria culture[fvm152]
Coagulating enzyme (rennet)[fvm152]
Drinking waterListed as an allowed ingredient[fvm152]
Table saltThe finished cheese holds 1.5 ± 0.5 % salt[fvm152]
Starterlactic acid bacteria culture and a coagulating enzyme, as the Hungarian Food Codex lists

Total time across the recorded steps: 28 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: cow milk, whole or adjusted in fat

Step 1 of 4
Take the cheese milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

The Codex allows cow milk, skim or part-skim milk, membrane-adjusted milk and cream. The 1991 Listeria trials used pasteurised milk. Output: cheese 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

Trappista is a salted, ripened, semi-hard cow cheese set with rennet, with small round fermentation eyes. The Hungarian Food Codex defines it as made from cow milk with a lactic acid bacteria culture and a coagulating enzyme, and fixes its shape, size and composition. A 2025 amending decree calls it the most popular kind of cheese. Made in 4 steps over 28 days. The longest step, ripen, takes 28 days (Darnay L 2022) and runs at 11–13 °C (Darnay L 2022). Salt is 1–2 % (Földművelésügyi és Vidékfejlesztési Miniszter…). Lactic acid bacteria culture does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step28 daysReported[darnay2022]Ripen
Temperature11–13 °CReported[darnay2022]Ripen
Salt1–2 %Set[fvm152]Salt the cheese

What makes this one different

The Hungarian Codex fixes its shape as a disc of 14–18 cm or a mini disc, and allows a block only if it is sold sliced or grated. A 2003 paper compares the Trappist cheese with Saint-Paulin, a descendant of Port-Salut, in taste, technology and composition.

Milk
Cow milk, which may be skimmed, part-skimmed or membrane-adjusted, with cream allowed
Shape (Hungarian Codex)
Disc 14–18 cm across and 6–9 cm high, 1.0–2.2 kg; mini disc 9–12 cm, 0.15–0.6 kg; blocks of any size, sold only sliced or grated
Composition (Hungarian Codex)
Full-fat type 58 ± 2.5 % dry matter and 47 ± 2.5 % fat in dry matter; half-fat 53 and 32 %; low-fat 47.5 and 22.5 %; salt 1.5 ± 0.5 %
Ripening
4 weeks at 12 ± 1 °C and 85 % relative humidity in one lab make

Related ferments

Variants

  • Smoked trappistaThe Hungarian Codex allows a smoked or smoke-flavoured version.
  • Mini trappistaSmall discs of 9–12 cm and 0.15–0.6 kg.

Safety

In a 1991 Yugoslav study, Trappist cheese was made from pasteurised milk in three trials and from whey in two, inoculated with Listeria monocytogenes. Counts rose after 30 days of ripening, and after 90 days of ripening and storage they were 2.72–5.64 log₁₀ CFU/g. Where counts declined, the decline was correlated with a fall in moisture and pH and a rise in NaCl and titratable acidity.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, which survived making and 90 days of ripening and storage in inoculated trials (2.72–5.64 log₁₀ CFU/g at the end).

History and sources

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

A 2003 paper on the 120th anniversary of the cheese of the monastery Marija Zvijezda in Banja Luka traces it from France to Banja Luka, then through many countries, especially the former Austro-Hungarian empire, and into Croatia during the 20th century. By 1991 Trappist cheese made up more than a third of Yugoslavia's semi-soft cheese. The 2025 decree 43/2025 (X. 2.) AM amended the Codex decree to set quality requirements for trappista, which it calls the most popular kind of cheese.

  1. [fvm152] Földművelésügyi és Vidékfejlesztési Miniszter, 152/2009. (XI. 12.) FVM rendelet a Magyar Élelmiszerkönyv kötelező előírásairól (consolidated text of 27 July 2026, section 4.5 Trappista sajt)spec
  2. [am43-2025] Agrárminiszter, 43/2025. (X. 2.) AM rendelet a Magyar Élelmiszerkönyv kötelező előírásairól szóló 152/2009. (XI. 12.) FVM rendelet módosításáról (preamble only; the operative sections have lapsed after being applied)spec
  3. [kovincic1991] Kovincic I., Vujicic I.F., Svabic-Vlahovic M., Vulic M., Gagic M., Wesley I.V. 1991, Survival of Listeria monocytogenes during the manufacture and ripening of Trappist cheese, Journal of Food Protection 54(6):418–420, doi:10.4315/0362-028x-54.6.418 (abstract)paper
  4. [darnay2022] Darnay L., Miklós G., Lőrincz A., Szakmár K., Pásztor-Huszár K., Laczay P. 2022, Possible inhibitory effect of microbial transglutaminase on the formation of biogenic amines during Trappist cheese ripening, Food Additives & Contaminants Part A 39(3):580–587, doi:10.1080/19440049.2021.2005831 (abstract)paper
  5. [kirin2003] Kirin S. 2003, 120 years of Trapist cheese, Mljekarstvo 53(1):51–64 (English abstract only)paper