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Fermentation Atlas

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

Aschbacher Magerkäse (Formaggio Aschbach magro)Aschbacher Magerkäse

Aschbacher Magerkäse is a lean, semi-cooked cow cheese made from milk half skimmed for butter. The pasteurised milk is soured with starter, set with calf rennet at 32 °C, cut to maize-kernel size and cooked at 38 °C, then moulded, brined and ripened at least 30 days. It has a soft, elastic paste with many round eyes. Made in 6 steps over 30 days. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 30 days (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…). Added lactic starter cultures does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 30 daysReported[onaf-sheet]Ripen
Temperature32 °CReported[onaf-sheet]Add starter and calf rennet

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe source gives temperatures but no amounts. A wheel weighs about 5 kg.
Cow milk, half of it skimmed · Skimmed by creaming or centrifuge, the cream going to butter; then pasteurised[onaf-sheet]
Lactic starter cultures[onaf-sheet]
Calf rennet[onaf-sheet]
Salt · As a brine bath[onaf-sheet]
Starter: lactic starter cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days

Start
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What changes: Half of the milk is skimmed for butter, then all of it is pasteurised

Step 1 of 6
Skim half the milk and pasteurise
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: half-skimmed pasteurised 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

What makes this one different

It is made from milk half skimmed for butter-making, as South Tyrolean dairies have long done, so it is leaner than the full-fat Algund cheeses; it is sold young, from 30 days.

Rind
Clean, smooth, light brown, no cracks
Size
Ø 25 cm, height about 8 cm, about 5 kg

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is pasteurised before cheesemaking.

History and sources

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

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 Aschbacher Magerkäse (Formaggio Aschbach magro)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. 26 (copy hosted by informacibo.it, 2018)gov
  3. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Aschbacher magerkäse' (id 797)web