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Cheese from Switzerland, canton of Glarus

Glarner SchabzigerSchabziger

Skimmed cow milk is heated to about 90 °C in a copper kettle and curdled by slowly adding a sour lactic culture; the curd (Ziger) is skimmed off, cooled and left to ferment 4–12 weeks. At the factory the raw Ziger is ground with salt, pressed into silos for 3–8 months, where it goes through a butyric fermentation, and ground again with blue fenugreek before it is pressed into small cylinders.

Fully documentedCheese3.9 months – 11 monthsFamily: Whey cheese (heat-precipitated whey protein) family

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceOnly the herb share (2.0–2.5 %) is published; the cylinders weigh 100 or 200 g.
Skimmed cow milk[schabziger-kes]
Lactic acid culture ('Sauer' or 'Etscher')[schabziger-kes]
Salt[schabziger-kes]
Dried blue fenugreek herb (Trigonella caerulea, Zigerklee)2.0 to 2.5 %[ayvazyan2023]
Starterlactic acid culture ('Sauer', 'Etscher')

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.9 months – 11 months

Start
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90 °C

What changes: A sour culture added to hot skimmed milk throws a curd that floats on the whey

Step 1 of 4
Heat the skimmed milk and curdle with the culture
Time
Not documented
Temperature
90 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The culture is added slowly until the surface shows yellow-green; the milk then splits into Ziger and whey (Schotte). The Ziger holds about 30 % protein and little fat or sugar.

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

At a glance

Skimmed cow milk is heated to about 90 °C in a copper kettle and curdled by slowly adding a sour lactic culture; the curd (Ziger) is skimmed off, cooled and left to ferment 4–12 weeks. At the factory the raw Ziger is ground with salt, pressed into silos for 3–8 months, where it goes through a butyric fermentation, and ground again with blue fenugreek before it is pressed into small cylinders. Made in 4 steps over 3.9 months – 11 months. The longest step, grind with salt and press into silos, takes 3–8 months (Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz (Swiss culinar…). Lactic acid culture that both curdles the milk protein and starts the fermentation; no source names the species and Butyric fermentation in the silos, avoided in most cheeses but typical here; no source names the organisms do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3–8 monthsReported[schabziger-kes]Grind with salt and press into silos
Temperature90 °CReported[schabziger-kes]Heat the skimmed milk and curdle with the culture

What makes this one different

A sour-milk cheese made by heat and acid from skimmed milk, then fermented twice, the second time with a butyric fermentation, and flavoured with blue fenugreek.

Fat
About 1.2 % fat in dry matter
Use
Grated to season dishes; mixed with 40–50 % butter as Ankeziger

Related ferments

Safety

A study of Schabziger and Appenzeller cheese samples found enterococci that grew on antibiotic plates and carried virulence genes. The dried blue fenugreek herb holds about 1.25 % total oxalate, which matters for people who must limit oxalate.

Hazards the sources name: Enterococci isolated on plates containing chloramphenicol, tetracycline or erythromycin; every one of 150 strains tested from Schabziger and Appenzeller samples carried at least two of nine virulence genes.

History and sources

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

A Glarus Landsgemeinde decree of 1463 set rules for making it and required an origin stamp, which the cylinders still carry. Since 2003 GESKA AG in Glarus has been the only Schabziger factory.

  1. [schabziger-kes] Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz (Swiss culinary heritage inventory), 'Glarner Schabziger' product sheet, hosted by glarus24.chweb
  2. [ayvazyan2023] Ayvazyan A., Stegemann T., Galarza Pérez M., Pramsohler M., Çiçek S.S. 2023, Phytochemical Profile of Trigonella caerulea (Blue Fenugreek) Herb and Quantification of Aroma-Determining Constituents, Plants 12(5):1154paper
  3. [templer2007] Templer S.P. and Baumgartner A. 2007, Enterococci from Appenzeller and Schabziger raw milk cheese: antibiotic resistance, virulence factors, and persistence of particular strains in the products, Journal of Food Protection 70(2):450–455 (abstract)paper