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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Trentino-Alto Adige, province of Bolzano

Algunder Ziegenkäse (Formaggio di capra di Lagundo)Algunder Ziegenkäse

Algunder Ziegenkäse is a small, semi-cooked, raw-milk goat cheese from Algund near Merano, made from April to October from pasture-fed goats. The milk is set with starter and rennet at 32 °C, the curd is cooked at 40 °C, moulded, brined for 8 hours and ripened 6 weeks to 3 months at 15 °C, its rind washed weekly with salt water until it turns yellow-red. Made in 6 steps over 43 days – 3 months. The longest step, ripen and wash the rind, takes 42 days – 3 months (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…) and runs at 15 °C (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…). Added lactic starter cultures does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step42 days – 3 monthsReported[onaf-sheet]Ripen and wash the rind
Temperature15 °CReported[onaf-sheet]Ripen and wash the rind
Fully documentedCheese43 days – 3 monthsTraditional food product (PAT, Provincia autonoma di Bolzano, no. 24)Family: Washed-rind (smear-ripened) cheese family (Munster and Époisses as templates)More washed-rind cheesesMore from Italy

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe source gives temperatures and times but no amounts. A cheese weighs about 1 kg.
Raw whole goat milk · From local Alpine breeds grazing on pasture[onaf-sheet]
Lactic starter cultures[onaf-sheet]
Kid or calf rennet powder[onaf-sheet]
Salt · Brine, then weekly washes with salt water[onaf-sheet]
Starter: lactic starter cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 43 days – 3 months

Start
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32 °C

What changes: Starter and kid or calf rennet go into raw goat milk at 32 °C

Step 1 of 6
Warm the milk, add starter and rennet
Time
20 min
Reported
Temperature
32 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: rennet curd.

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

What makes this one different

Unlike the cow-milk Algund cheeses, it is a raw goat-milk cheese, made only in the grazing season and given a weekly salt-water wash that builds a reddish rind.

Rind
Washed, thin, soft, ridged by the moulds, yellow-reddish
Size
Octagonal or cylindrical, Ø 10–12 cm, height 6–8 cm, about 1 kg
Season
April to October

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw goat milk and ripened at least 6 weeks.

History and sources

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

Known since 1960. The cheesemaker Josef Gruber says he took up the method in 1960 and passed it on in 1995 to the present cheesemaker.

  1. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet Algunder Ziegenkäse (Formaggio di capra di Lagundo)web
  2. [pat-list-bz] Ministero delle politiche agricole, Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali (L. 238/2016 art. 12), Allegato I, Provincia autonoma di Bolzano, no. 24 (copy hosted by informacibo.it, 2018)gov
  3. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Algunder ziegenkäse' (id 795)web