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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Trentino-Alto Adige, province of Bolzano

Sextner Almkäse (Formaggio di montagna di Sesto)Sextner Almkäse

Pasteurised whole cow milk from Sexten mountain farms is soured with lactic cultures, set with calf rennet at 32 °C and broken to corn or pea size. The curd is semi-cooked at 38–40 °C, pressed in hoops for 5 hours and brined for 2 days. The wheels ripen about 3 months at 8–10 °C, turned, scraped and brushed every day to clear the fine mould that grows on the rind. Made in 6 steps over 3.1 months – 8.1 months. The longest step, ripen, scraping the rind daily, takes 3–8 months (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…) and runs at 8–10 °C (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…). Lactic starter cultures does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3–8 monthsReported[onaf-sextner]Ripen, scraping the rind daily
Temperature8–10 °CReported[onaf-sextner]Ripen, scraping the rind daily

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheet gives temperatures and times but no amounts. A wheel weighs about 7 kg.
Whole cow milk, pasteurised · From cows fed on pasture or hay from local meadows; heated over a wood fire in the mountains[onaf-sextner]
Lactic cultures[onaf-sextner]
Calf rennet powder[onaf-sextner]
Salt · Brine[onaf-sextner]
Starter: lactic cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.1 months – 8.1 months

Start
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32 °C

What changes: Lactic cultures and calf rennet go into the milk at 32 °C and it sets

Step 1 of 6
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
Moulds

Output: curd.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
gel
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

the cultures start the souring

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

It is a large, pressed, semi-cooked mountain cheese whose rind is scraped and brushed every day to clear a fine mould down, which leaves the rind grey-brown and wrinkled.

Milk
Whole cow milk, pasteurised, from mountain farms above 1,300 m around Sexten
Ripening
About 3 months; can go on to 7–8 months
Rind
Wrinkled, fairly hard, grey-brown, with traces of the mould scraped off each day
Size
About 7 kg; ø 35–40 cm, side 8–10 cm
Composition
50 % fat in dry matter

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is pasteurised and the wheels ripen for about three months.

History and sources

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

The Sexten cooperative dairy has worked since the 1800s and was refounded in 1926. About 60 members, most of them small farms kept as a second job, supply its milk.

  1. [onaf-sextner] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Sextner Almkase (Formaggio di montagna di Sesto)', PAT Provincia autonoma di Bolzanoweb
  2. [pat-list-bz] Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali (art. 12, law 238/2016), Allegato I, Provincia autonoma di Bolzano section, listing 'Sextner almkäse (Formaggio di montagna di Sesto)'; copy published by informacibo.it, 2018gov