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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Sweden

Prästostprästost

Prästost ("priest cheese") is a Swedish hard rennet cheese of cow milk. A 1928 account describes the old farm method, in which spirits were kneaded into the curd and later used to wash the young cheese. Today it is a dairy cheese ripened for months, up to 12 months for one large brand. Made in 6 steps over 12 months – 3 years. The longest step, ripen, takes 12 months – 3 years (Skånemejerier 2009). Lactic acid bacteria does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step12 months – 3 yearsReported[skanemejerier2009][bottari2018]Ripen
Temperature32 °CReported[doane1928]Set fresh milk with rennet

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedOld farm method with no fixed amounts; modern dairy recipes are not published.
Fresh cow milk[doane1928]
Rennet[doane1928]
Whisky or other spirits · Mixed into the curd and used to wash the cheese in the old method; brännvin or cognac, and sometimes caraway, cloves or cinnamon, in farm tradition[doane1928][skanemejerier2009]
Salt · Sprinkled on the surface in the old method[doane1928]
Starter: rennet with the milk's own lactic bacteria in the old method; dairy cultures today

Total time across the recorded steps: 12 months – 3 years

Start
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Milk proteinGel (curd)32 °Cshapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria

What changes: Rennet sets fresh cow milk into a very firm curd

Step 1 of 6
Set fresh milk with rennet
Time
Not documented
Temperature
32 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
allowed to set very firm
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

In the old method Prästost was kneaded with spirits and washed with them after three days. Modern Prästost is a long-ripened dairy cheese, often a year old; a food study notes that Herrgårdsost is matured for a shorter time.

Milk
Cow milk
Fat
Sold in Sweden at 28% and 31% fat
Shape
Cylindrical, 5–30 pounds (1928)

Related ferments

Variants

  • Old farm PrästostSpirits kneaded into the curd and used to wash the cheese
  • Allerum PrästDairy cheese from Kristianstad, ripened 12 months

History and sources

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

The 1928 US bulletin says the cheese was known in the 18th century. A Swedish dairy traces it to the 1500s, when farmers gave their best cheeses to the parish priest as tithe, often made at midsummer; it says the name was first printed in 1771 and that the tithe ended in 1862, after which farm wives kept giving priests home-made cheese until dairies took over.

  1. [doane1928] Doane C.F., Lawson H.W., revised by Matheson K.J. 1928, Varieties of cheese, descriptions and analyses, USDA Bulletin 608 (Prestost)archive
  2. [atiya2011] Atiya Ali M., Poortvliet E., Strömberg R., Yngve A. 2011, Polyamines in foods, development of a food database, Food & Nutrition Research 55:5572paper
  3. [bottari2018] Bottari B., Levante A., Neviani E., Gatti M. 2018, How the fewest become the greatest, L. casei's impact on long ripened cheeses, Frontiers in Microbiology 9:2866paper
  4. [skanemejerier2009] Skånemejerier 2009, press information "Svensk Präst tar plats på julbordet", Kristianstad, 18 November 2009 (with a note on the history of prästost)web