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Cheese from Austria, Tyrol

Tiroler Graukäse PDOGraukäse

Skimmed Tyrolean cow milk, raw or pasteurised, is soured with 2–3 % starter at 20–25 °C and set by acid alone, with no rennet. The sour curd is heated to 50–55 °C, drained, seasoned with salt and pepper and pressed into loaves or bars. It ripens from the outside in for about 10–21 days in a warm room at 18–20 °C, under yeasts and grey moulds.

Fully documentedCheese10 days – 21 daysPDO (EU, 1996), Regulation (EC) No 1263/96Family: Ripened acid-curd cheese family (Harzer, Olomoucké tvarůžky, Gamalost)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe application gives the starter dose and the temperatures but no batch size. No rennet is used. Loaves and bars weigh up to 4 kg.
Skimmed cow milk from Tyrolean alpine or valley farms with silage-free feedingRaw or pasteurised; traditionally the skim milk left from butter-making[grau-de][grau-eu1996]
Souring culture (Säurewecker)2–3 %[grau-de]
Salt and pepper, and other spicesAdded to the drained sour curd before pressing[grau-de][grau-eu1996]
Starter2–3 % souring culture (Säurewecker); ripening yeasts such as Geotrichum may be sprayed on the curd

Total time across the recorded steps: 10 days – 21 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countYeastsMoulds20–25 °CMilk proteinGel (curd)

What changes: Lactic starter sours the skim milk until it sets without rennet

Step 1 of 5
Sour the skim milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
20–25 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
Moulds

The milk thickens by acid alone; no rennet is added.

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 Tyrolean cow milk, raw or pasteurised, is soured with 2–3 % starter at 20–25 °C and set by acid alone, with no rennet. The sour curd is heated to 50–55 °C, drained, seasoned with salt and pepper and pressed into loaves or bars. It ripens from the outside in for about 10–21 days in a warm room at 18–20 °C, under yeasts and grey moulds. Made in 5 steps over 10 days – 21 days. The longest step, ripen from the outside in, takes 10–21 days (Antrag auf Eintragung 'Tiroler Graukäse g.U.'…) and runs at 18–20 °C (Antrag auf Eintragung 'Tiroler Graukäse g.U.'…). Yeasts, milk mould (Geotrichum) and grey mould strains ripen the cheese from the outside in does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step10–21 daysSet[grau-de]Ripen from the outside in
Temperature18–20 °CSet[grau-de]Ripen from the outside in

What makes this one different

An acid-set skim-milk cheese with no rennet, heated after souring and ripened in about two to three weeks by yeasts and grey moulds from the outside in.

Milk
Cow milk, raw or pasteurised and mostly skimmed, from silage-free feeding (the EU summary sheet calls it mostly raw); no rennet
Ripening
About 10–21 days in a warm room
Fat
Fat in dry matter averaged 1.6 % in 30 dairy cheeses studied at Rotholz in 1990/91

Related ferments

Safety

The application allows raw or pasteurised milk and says the bacteriology of the mostly raw milk gives the cheese its regional character. The cheese ripens only about 10–21 days. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not eliminate or adequately reduce E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses during ageing [fda-rawcheese2016]. ANSES advises pregnant women, people with weak immunity, people over 65 and young children to avoid raw-milk cheese, except cooked pressed cheeses such as Gruyère or Comté [anses2022].

History and sources

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

Sour-milk cheeses were made in Tyrol before rennet cheesemaking spread around 1830, and Graukäse used the skim milk left from butter-making. About 450 000 kg were made in Tyrol in 1996.

  1. [grau-de] Antrag auf Eintragung 'Tiroler Graukäse g.U.', Verband der Tiroler Käserei- und Molkereifachleute, 1995 (EU register application file, German)spec
  2. [grau-eu1996] Application for registration, 'Tiroler Graukäse g.U.', Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92, national file 1190-GR/95 (EU register summary sheet, English)spec
  3. [ginzinger1998] Ginzinger W, Kupfner B (1998). Tiroler Graukäse – Geschichte, Chemie, Mikrobiologie und Technologie. Der Alm- und Bergbauer 5/98, p. 133 (Bundesanstalt für alpenländische Milchwirtschaft Rotholz)paper
  4. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  5. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov