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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Germany, Bavaria, the alpine mountain area of the Allgäu districts Ostallgäu, Oberallgäu and Lindau, at 800 m or higher

Allgäuer Sennalpkäse PDOAllgäuer Sennalpkäse

Allgäuer Sennalpkäse is a hard cheese made by hand on registered Allgäu summer alps from the raw milk of cows that graze there, mostly Brown Swiss. The milk is warmed to about 32 °C in a copper kettle with cultures and rennet, cut with a harp and stirred for one to two hours while it heats to 47–53 °C. The wheels are pressed under a wooden lid, brined for up to three days and washed with salt water as they ripen for three to four months or more. Made in 8 steps over 3.1 months. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 3 months (Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt 2015). Lactic acid bacteria cultures added in the kettle and Red smear cultures on the rind (optional) and the smear that grows as the rind is washed do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 3 monthsSet[ssak-spec2015]Ripen
Temperature32 °CSet[ssak-spec2015]Warm in a copper kettle and set

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification sets the method, not a fixed batch. Each alp makes wheels of 5–35 kg to suit the day's milk.
Raw cow milk from the alp · From Brown Swiss cows or their crosses; only cooled if needed; evening milk usually skimmed[ssak-spec2015]
Lactic acid bacteria cultures and/or natural rennet · No chymosin from genetically modified microbes[ssak-spec2015]
20–25 kg per 100 l of boiling waterSalt, for the brine[ssak-spec2015]
Red smear cultures · Optional, for flavour and rind[ssak-spec2015]
No other additives or preservatives[ssak-spec2015]
Starterlactic acid bacteria cultures and/or natural rennet; red smear cultures optional

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.1 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: raw milk from cows grazing the summer alp

Step 1 of 8
Milk on the alp
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Cows are milked morning and evening on the alp and are not driven home each day. Only the alp's own raw milk is used, cooled if needed.

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 Allgäuer Bergkäse, it is made only on registered summer alps, by hand, in a copper kettle, from the alp's own milk, and the whole process including ripening often stays on the alp. The specification bans silage and daily driving of the cows back to the farm.

Milk
Raw cow milk from the alp; evening milk usually skimmed
Ripening
At least 3 months (wheels up to 15 kg) or 4 months (over 15 kg)
Size
5–35 kg, 30–70 cm across, up to 15 cm high
Composition
Dry matter at least 55 % (young) or 62 % (ripe); fat in dry matter at least 45 %

Related ferments

Variants

  • Junger Allgäuer SennalpkäseWheels of 5–15 kg, sold after three months; dry matter at least 55 %.

Safety

This is a raw-milk cheese. A 2025 study of Alpine raw-milk cheeses names high scalding temperatures, good starter cultures and clean milk as the hurdles that keep Staphylococcus aureus and its toxins down; this cheese is heated to 47–53 °C and ripened at least three months.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus and its enterotoxins, a known risk in Alpine raw-milk cheeses.

History and sources

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

The specification says old documents show sweet or fat cheesemaking (Süß- or Fettsennen), the basis of this cheese, in use during the Thirty Years' War. Around 1820 cheesemakers from Appenzell brought large, fat round cheeses that kept longer and sold better. It was registered as a PDO in 2016.

  1. [ssak-spec2015] Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt, Markenblatt Heft 47, 20.11.2015, Teil 7e, Produktspezifikation 'Allgäuer Sennalpkäse' (g.U.), Aktenzeichen 305 99 017.9 (archived copy)spec
  2. [eambrosia-ssak] European Commission, eAmbrosia GI register, 'Allgäuer Sennalpkäse' PDO-DE-00897 (registered by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/924, OJ L 155, 14.6.2016)gov
  3. [berger2025] Berger T.F.H. et al. 2025, Critical factors affecting the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus and staphylococcal enterotoxins in raw milk cheese in the Alpine region of Austria, Italy, and Switzerland, Foods 14:2176 (abstract)paper