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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Slovakia, the Tekov region on the border of the Nitra and Banská Bystrica regions

Tekovský salámový syr

Tekovský salámový syr is a semi-hard, full-fat cow-milk cheese pressed into long cylinders that look like salami. Pasteurised milk is soured with Lactococcus cultures and made into curd in the usual semi-hard way, then the warm pressed cylinders are freed and trimmed by hand, brined for a day, dried, sometimes cold-smoked, and ripened for at least two weeks. Made in 8 steps over 16 days. The longest step, ripen on pallets, takes at least 14 days (Jednotný dokument 2006) and runs at 8–12 °C (Jednotný dokument 2006). Lactococcus (or Streptococcus) lactic cultures does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 14 daysSet[tekov-spec]Ripen on pallets
Temperature8–12 °CSet[tekov-spec]Ripen on pallets
AciditypH 4.6–5.3Set[tekov-spec]Brine

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification gives process limits, not amounts. Each cheese is a cylinder 30–32 cm long and 9–9.5 cm across, sold in food film.
Pasteurised cow milk · Where the raw milk comes from does not matter for this name[tekov-spec]
Pure lactic cultures of Lactococcus, or Streptococcus[tekov-spec]
Salt · As a brine of 16–18 °Bé[tekov-spec]
Sawdust smoke · Smoked type only[tekov-spec]
Starter: pure lactic cultures of Lactococcus, or Streptococcus

Total time across the recorded steps: 16 days

Start
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73–79 °C

What changes: Raw cow milk is pasteurised at 73–79 °C

Step 1 of 8
Pasteurise the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
73–79 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus

The dairy checks inhibitors, temperature, acidity, fat, density and solids-not-fat in the 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

The curd is made like any semi-hard cheese; what sets it apart is the salami shape and the hand work after pressing, when each warm cylinder is freed, trimmed and laid in the brining pallets. It ripens for only about two weeks.

Milk
Pasteurised cow milk, full fat
Ripening
At least 2 weeks at 8–12 °C
Size
Salami-shaped cylinder 30–32 cm long, 9–9.5 cm across
Composition
Dry matter 53.5–58.5 %; fat in dry matter 43.0–47.5 %; salt at most 2.5 %

Related ferments

Variants

  • Tekovský salámový syr údenýCold-smoked with sawdust smoke at about 30–35 °C after drying, until golden-yellow.

Safety

The milk is pasteurised at 73–79 °C before cheesemaking.

History and sources

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

The specification credits Jozef Soc and his cheesemakers at the Dobrá Niva dairy with inventing salami cheese in 1921; that dairy was destroyed in the Second World War. Production began in Tekov in 1949 at the Tekovské Lužany dairy, moved to Šahy in 1953 and, after 1996, to Levice. It was registered as a PGI in 2011.

  1. [tekov-spec] Jednotný dokument, Nariadenie Rady (ES) č. 510/2006, 'Tekovský salámový syr' (single document for the PGI), applicant Levické mliekárne a.s., Slovak Industrial Property Officespec
  2. [eambrosia-tekov] European Commission, eAmbrosia GI register, 'Tekovský salámový syr' PGI-SK-0693 (registered by Commission Regulation (EU) No 239/2011, OJ L 66, 12.3.2011)gov