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Cheese from Austria, Carinthia, alpine pastures of the Upper Gail valley

Gailtaler Almkäse PDOGailtaler Almkäse

A hard raw-milk cheese made on the alpine pastures of the Gail valley, from cow milk with up to 10 % goat milk. The evening milk ripens overnight in wooden tubs, is mixed with the morning milk, set with natural rennet, cut to lentil size and cooked to about 50–52 °C. The pressed wheels are brined two to three days and ripened at least seven weeks.

Fully documentedCheese53 days – 54 daysPDO (EU, registered 1997)Family: Cooked hard alpine cheese family (Comté, Gruyère and Emmentaler as templates)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification gives no batch size. About 40,000 kg is made a year on the 14 alpine dairies of the producers' group.
Raw alpine cow milk from Gailtal alpine pasturesMilk from the valley may not be used[gail-sd][bmluk-gail]
Raw goat milk (optional)At most 10 % of the milk[gail-sd]
Natural rennet (powder)[gail-sd][bmluk-gail]
Lactic acid bacteria (yogurt or whey culture, only if the milk is not sour enough)[gail-sum][bmluk-gail]
Salt, as a brine bath[gail-sum]
Starterthe raw milk's own flora, ripened overnight; yogurt or whey culture may be added

Total time across the recorded steps: 53 days – 54 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
12–17 °CMilk sugarLactic acid

What changes: Overnight in wooden tubs the evening milk's own bacteria start to work

Step 1 of 8
Ripen the evening milk overnight
Time
Not documented
Temperature
12–17 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Microbial processes start in the milk; the specification calls them essential for a successful cheese.

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

A hard raw-milk cheese made on the alpine pastures of the Gail valley, from cow milk with up to 10 % goat milk. The evening milk ripens overnight in wooden tubs, is mixed with the morning milk, set with natural rennet, cut to lentil size and cooked to about 50–52 °C. The pressed wheels are brined two to three days and ripened at least seven weeks. Made in 8 steps over 53 days – 54 days. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 49 days (European Commission 2015) and runs at 15–20 °C (Eintragungsantrag g.U. 'Gailtaler Almkäse' 1996).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 49 daysSet[gail-sd]Ripen
Temperature15–20 °CSet[gail-sum][bmluk-gail]Ripen

What makes this one different

Made only from alpine milk of the Gail valley pastures, with the evening milk ripened overnight in wooden tubs; it can be sold after seven weeks.

Milk
Raw alpine cow milk, with goat milk up to 10 %
Composition
At least 45 % fat in dry matter, at most 40 % water, at least 60 % dry matter
Size
Round wheels of 0.5 to 35 kg
Ripening
At least 7 weeks; 5 weeks for use in the alpine dairies' own restaurants; 75 days if airtight-packed

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is raw. The specification requires a cook to at least 47 °C, two to three days of brining and at least seven weeks of ripening for sale (five weeks at the alpine dairies' own restaurants), or 75 days for airtight-packed cheese.

History and sources

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

The earliest mention of cheesemaking in the Gail valley is in the urbarium of the Count of Görz, 1375 to 1381, and an 1876 report describes the alpine pastures in detail. Until the mid-19th century much cheese there was still made half-fat and unpressed in the Friulian way before full-fat cheese took over. The First World War badly damaged the alpine dairies near the Plöcken pass front, and some had to be rebuilt entirely. In 1949 there were 39 active alpine dairies and the dairies' association was founded; by the 1970s only seven were left. The association became the present Verein in April 1996. The name Gailtaler Almkäse can be shown in continuous use from the 1950s.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [gail-sd] European Commission, Single document 'Gailtaler Almkäse', EC No AT-PDO-0117-01265, Official Journal of the European Union C 62, 20.2.2015, p. 7spec
  2. [gail-sum] Eintragungsantrag g.U. 'Gailtaler Almkäse', GZ 1323-GR/95, summary sheet (German original, 1996), eAmbrosia registerspec
  3. [bmluk-gail] Austrian Federal Ministry (BMLUK), Traditionelle Lebensmittel register, 'Gailtaler Almkäse g.U.'gov