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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Austria, Vorarlberg

Großwalsertaler Bergkäse ('Walserstolz')Großwalsertaler Bergkäse

Großwalsertaler Bergkäse is a hard mountain cheese from raw, part-skimmed hay milk of mostly Brown Swiss cows. Each dairy uses its own whey and lactic culture with calf rennet, cooks the curd above 50 °C to apple-seed grains, presses 28–32 kg wheels and brines them three days. They ripen 8–12 months in shared cellars, brushed twice a week with salt water. Made in 6 steps over 8.1 months – 12 months. The longest step, ripen, brushed with salt water, takes 8–12 months (Austrian Federal Ministry BMLUK) and runs at 12–15 °C (Austrian Federal Ministry BMLUK). Salt is 20 % (Austrian Federal Ministry BMLUK). The dairy's own whey and lactic acid culture and Rind flora built up by brushing with salt water do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step8–12 monthsReported[bmluk]Ripen, brushed with salt water
Temperature12–15 °CReported[bmluk]Ripen, brushed with salt water
Salt20 %Reported[bmluk]Brine for three days
AciditypH 5.3Reported[bmluk]Ripen, brushed with salt water
Fully documentedCheese8.1 months – 12 monthsAustrian traditional-food register (BMLUK no. 69); Walserstolz is a registered trade mark (1998)Family: Cooked hard alpine cheese family (Comté, Gruyère and Emmentaler as templates)More cooked alpine cheesesMore from Austria

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe register describes the method, not amounts. The cheese is made only as wheels of 28–32 kg.
Raw cow milk, partly skimmed · Mainly Brown Swiss cows fed herbs, green fodder or hay, grain allowed, no silage; delivered daily and made the same day; not thermised, pasteurised or centrifuged[bmluk]
The dairy's own whey and lactic culture · The register names this as what sets the cheese apart[bmluk]
Natural calf rennet · No substitutes or genetically engineered rennet[bmluk]
Salt · About 20% brine, and salt water for rind care[bmluk]
Starter: the dairy's own whey and lactic culture

Total time across the recorded steps: 8.1 months – 12 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: raw, partly skimmed milk from hay-fed Brown Swiss cows

Step 1 of 6
Collect raw hay milk daily
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The milk is partly skimmed and made into cheese the day it arrives.

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

Each dairy sours the milk with its own whey and lactic culture, which the register names as the cheese's mark. It is made from raw part-skimmed hay milk, cooked above 50 °C, and ripened 8–12 months in shared cellars.

Size
Wheels of 28–32 kg
Rind
Granular, golden-brown to brown

Related ferments

Safety

This is a raw-milk cheese. ANSES names Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli as the risks of raw-milk cheeses and advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat them, except cooked pressed cheeses such as Gruyère.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli (raw-milk risks named by ANSES).

History and sources

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

Cheesemaking in the valley began in the 14th century as settlement grew, and by the mid-18th century fat cheese was exported, mainly to Italy. The first cooperative dairy opened in 1905. Ripening and sales were pooled in 1997, the Walserstolz word mark was registered in 1998, and the valley became a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 2000.

  1. [bmluk] Austrian Federal Ministry BMLUK, Traditionelle Lebensmittel register no. 69, Großwalsertaler Bergkäse (E. Sommer and E. Höbaus)gov
  2. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov