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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Netherlands

Maasdam / LeerdammerMaasdammer

Maasdam is a semi-hard cow cheese made like Gouda, with a washed curd, but with propionic bacteria added to the milk. After brining it spends about three weeks in a warm room, where the propionic bacteria turn lactate into propionate and carbon dioxide, which opens large round eyes and gives a sweet, nutty taste. It then ripens in the cold. Made in 6 steps over 6 months – 6.6 months. The longest step, ripen in the cold, takes up to 4.9 months (Panthi R.R. 2018) and runs at 2–4 °C (Panthi R.R. 2018). Lactococcus lactis and Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. shermanii do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepup to 4.9 monthsReported[panthi2018]Ripen in the cold
Temperature2–4 °CReported[panthi2018]Ripen in the cold
AciditypH 5.2 → 5.7Measured[panthi2018]Ripen in the cold
Fully documentedCheese6 months – 6.6 monthsnone (generic style; Leerdammer is a trade mark)Family: Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template)More washed-curd cheesesMore from Netherlands

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAmounts are from one pilot make in Ireland, 380 kg of milk per vat, reported in a 2018 PhD thesis. Maasdam has no public standard, so they show one tested method, not a fixed recipe.
380 kg per vat, at 32 °CPasteurised, standardised cow milk[panthi2018]
18 mg/kg of milkMesophilic starter (Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and cremoris, Leuconostoc) · Frozen pellets[panthi2018]
4.8 mg/kg of milkThermophilic adjunct (Lactobacillus helveticus)[panthi2018]
7 mg/kg of milkPropionic acid bacteria[panthi2018]
0.3 ml/kg of a 34 % solutionCalcium chloride[panthi2018]
0.18 ml/kg of milk, diluted about 1:10 in waterRennet (200 IMCU/ml)[panthi2018]
Water for washing the curd, and brine · The thesis gives no amounts for these[panthi2018]
Startermesophilic lactococci and Leuconostoc, a Lactobacillus helveticus adjunct and propionic acid bacteria, all added to the milk

Total time across the recorded steps: 6 months – 6.6 months

Start
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32 °Cshapes, not to countLactobacillus helveticus

What changes: Starter, propionic bacteria and rennet go into warm milk and it sets to a gel

Step 1 of 6
Warm the milk and add cultures and rennet
Time
Not documented
Temperature
32 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacillus helveticus
Lactococcus lactis
P. freudenreichii
Leuconostoc

Output: coagulum.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
liquid, then a firm gel
Colour
white

Microbes at work in this step

mesophilic starter, Lactobacillus helveticus and propionic bacteria go in together

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

Maasdam is made like Gouda, with a washed curd, but propionic bacteria are added and the cheese spends weeks in a warm room, as Emmental does. That warm stage opens large round eyes and gives a sweet, nutty taste, so it sits between Gouda and Emmental.

Milk
Pasteurised cow milk, standardised for fat and protein
Ripening
About 10 days cool, 3 weeks in a warm room, then cold storage up to 150 days in one make

Related ferments

Variants

  • LeerdammerA branded cheese of the same style, launched by Baars Kaas in 1974.

Safety

The milk is pasteurised in the studied makes. Clostridium spores can germinate in the warm room and make butyric acid, which spoils the cheese. Removing spores by centrifuging the milk lowered their share and the butyric acid in one study.

Hazards the sources name: Clostridium spores, which can cause butyric late blowing (a spoilage defect).

History and sources

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

Leerdammer was developed at the dairy research institute NIZO in Ede and put on the market by Baars Kaas in 1974 as a cross between Gouda and Emmental.

  1. [panthi2018] Panthi R.R. 2018, Effects of herd diet, protein fortification and coagulation conditions on in-vat curd syneretic properties and ripening profiles of Maasdam cheese, PhD thesis, University College Corkpaper
  2. [duru2018] Duru I.C., Laine P., Andreevskaya M. et al. 2018, Metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analysis of the microbial community in Swiss-type Maasdam cheese during ripening, International Journal of Food Microbiology 281:10–22, doi:10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2018.05.017 (abstract)paper
  3. [lamichhane2018b] Lamichhane P., Pietrzyk A., Feehily C. et al. 2018, Effect of milk centrifugation and incorporation of high heat-treated centrifugate on the microbial composition and levels of volatile organic compounds of Maasdam cheese, Journal of Dairy Science 101:5738–5750, doi:10.3168/jds.2017-14180 (abstract)paper
  4. [boerenbusiness2024] van der Horst K. 2024, Top cheese brand in the Netherlands celebrates its anniversary in private, Boerenbusiness, 7 June 2024 (history only)web