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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Switzerland, canton of Obwalden

Obwaldner Alpkäse

Obwaldner Alpkäse is a full-fat hard cheese made on the Obwalden summer alps from raw milk. The curd is cut to pinhead size and cooked just above 50 °C, pressed for about a day in a round wooden hoop (Järb), and brined three to four days, which makes it saltier than Bernese alp cheese. It ripens dry, without smearing, first in a wooden store on the alp and then in valley cellars. Made in 7 steps over 3.1 months – 2 years. The longest step, ripen dry in the wooden store, then the valley cellar, takes 3 months – 2 years (Verein Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz (Patrim…) and runs at 10–20 °C (Verein Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz (Patrim…). Lactic acid bacteria cultures does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3 months – 2 yearsReported[patrimoine-ch]Ripen dry in the wooden store, then the valley cellar
Temperature10–20 °CReported[patrimoine-ch]Ripen dry in the wooden store, then the valley cellar
Fully documentedCheese3.1 months – 2 yearsnone (Culinary Heritage of Switzerland inventory, no. 304)Family: Cooked hard alpine cheese family (Comté, Gruyère and Emmentaler as templates)More cooked alpine cheesesMore from Switzerland

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedAlp tradition with no fixed batch size; the inventory gives the method, not amounts. Wheels weigh 10–12 kg.
Raw cow milk · Evening milk kept cool overnight and partly skimmed, mixed with fresh morning milk; fat in dry matter at least 45%[patrimoine-ch]
Lactic acid bacteria cultures[patrimoine-ch]
Calf rennet[patrimoine-ch]
Salt and water for the brine[patrimoine-ch]
Starter: lactic acid bacteria cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.1 months – 2 years

Start
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What changes: Starting material: cooled, partly skimmed evening milk mixed with fresh morning milk

Step 1 of 7
Mix evening and morning milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

The evening milk is cooled overnight and partly skimmed, then mixed with the fresh morning 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

Obwaldner is a hard cheese cooked just above 50 °C, while neighbouring Nidwaldner Alpkäse is semi-hard, cooked to about 45 °C with coarser grains, moister and quicker to ripen. It is brined longer than Berner Alpkäse, so it is saltier, and it ripens dry like Sbrinz instead of being smeared.

Size
10–12 kg; dry, nearly blind paste with a few pinhead-size holes
Ripening
From three months; mature at about eight months; can be kept two years

Related ferments

Safety

This is a raw-milk cheese. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses, except cooked pressed cheeses; Obwaldner is cooked above 50 °C and pressed.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli (raw-milk risks named by ANSES; cooked pressed cheeses are the exception to its advice).

History and sources

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

Obwalden and Nidwalden were long treated together as Unterwalden. Rennet cheesemaking took hold there in the 17th century, after centuries of sour-milk products. In the 19th century export duty was charged per cheese, which favoured big wheels from big herds; smaller herders made smaller cheeses for home use, the ancestors of today's Obwaldner and Nidwaldner Alpkäse. Under the Swiss Alp ordinance only cheese made in the summering area may be called Alp cheese.

  1. [patrimoine-ch] Verein Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz (Patrimoine culinaire suisse), national inventory entry 'Obwaldner Alpkäse', no. 304archive
  2. [balv] Swiss Federal Council, Verordnung über die Verwendung der Bezeichnungen «Berg» und «Alp» (Berg- und Alp-Verordnung, BAlV), SR 910.19, Art. 8gov
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov