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Fermentation Atlas

Washed-curd cheeses

Part of the whey swapped for warm water, then brined, as for Gouda and Edam.

41 entries listed here.

How these cheeses are made

The shared make of washed-curd cheese family (gouda as template). Each cheese below says what it does differently.

  1. Set the milk with starter and rennet35 min · 30 °C
  2. Cut and stir the curd20 min
  3. Wash the curd with warm water1.3 h · 30–40 °C
  4. Mould and press3 h
  5. Brine24 h · 13 °C · 18 % salt
  6. Coat and ripen on wooden boardsat least 28 days · at least 12 °C

Compare them

CheeseRegionMilkRipeningRind
BoerenkaasNetherlandsRaw milk, mainly from the farm's own herdAt least 13 days at 12 °C or more
ButterkäseGermany and AustriaNo legal minimum age in Germany; ripened at about 10 °C in Austria
ColbyUnited StatesCow milk, pasteurised or raw; raw-milk cheese is cured at least 60 daysUS standard: at least 60 days at no less than 35 °F if the milk is not pasteurised
Danbo PGIDenmarkPasteurised cow milk2–4 weeks at 7–21 °C for the typical flavour and texture; older Danbo is stronger
Edam Holland PGINetherlandsDutch farm milk standardised to 40–44% fat in dry matter, not a skim-milk cheeseNatural ripening at 12 °C or more for at least 28 days (baby at least 21 days)
FynboDenmark, the island of FunenCow milkAt least six weeks before sale (Mini-Fynbo four weeks)Hard, dry, yellow; may be waxed or plastic-coated
Gouda Holland PGI / Noord-Hollandse Gouda PDONetherlandsDutch farm milk cooled to 6 °C or less, at the dairy within 96 h, pasteurised at 72 °C or more for 15 sNatural ripening on wooden boards at 12 °C or more for at least 28 days; foil ripening is excluded
HavartiDenmarkPasteurised cow milk only (PGI)With rind: 1–2 weeks at 14–18 °C, then 1–3 weeks at 8–12 °C; rindless: 3 weeks at 12–20 °C (2014 PGI text)
Kanterkaas PDONetherlands, Friesland and the WesterkwartierPasteurised cow milk from Friesland and the WesterkwartierAt least four weeks at 12 °C or moreSmooth and free of mould; natural or coated colourless or yellow (red allowed for the caraway cheese)
Maasdam / LeerdammerNetherlandsPasteurised cow milk, standardised for fat and proteinAbout 10 days cool, 3 weeks in a warm room, then cold storage up to 150 days in one make
Mimolette (extra-vieille)FrancePasteurised cow milkAt least 13 months for vieille and 18 months for extra-vieille (Label Rouge); jeune is 3–6 months
Monterey JackUnited StatesPasteurised cow milk, nonfat milk or creamTypically 3–6 weeks
Svecia PGISweden, the low-lying farming areas across the countryPasteurised cow milkAt least 2 monthsWaxed
Trappista (Hungary)Hungary and the former YugoslaviaCow milk, which may be skimmed, part-skimmed or standardised, with cream allowed21 days at 12–15 °C in one factory; 4 weeks at 12 ± 1 °C in a lab make
Győr-Moson-Sopron megyei Csemege sajtHungary, Győr-Moson-Sopron countyFull-fat cow milk28–42 days
HushållsostSweden2 monthsDry, paraffin; straw-yellow
Innichner Bergkäse (Montagna San Candido)Italy, Trentino-Alto Adige, Prov. Bolzanoat least 2 monthsEdible, thin, elastic, intense straw
JarlsbergNorwayCow milk11 months
MolboDenmark, MolsCow milk and other bovine milk productsAt least 3 weeks
PrästostSwedenCow milk12 months – 3 years
Queijo do ReinoBrazilPasteurised, standardised cow milkTraditionally 40 days; the study followed cheeses to 156 daysThin, smooth, painted red or pink, with or without paraffin
Beemster (polder Gouda)Beemster polder, North Holland, NetherlandsCow milk from cows grazing on sea-clay soil (outline only)
Bruder BasilGermany, BavariaPasteurised cow milkNot published
CooleaCorkcow milk6–24 mo
Friese Nagelkaas PDOFrieslandcow milk, skim≥6 mo
Gammel KnasDenmarkcow milkmore than 24 months
Kalimpong cheeseIndia, West BengalCow milk
Karaván (füstölt sajt)Hungary
KryddostSwedencow milk
Leidse Kaas PDOLeidencow milk, semi-skim
MariboDenmark42 daysSemi-hard to hard, may be waxed; square blocks also made rindless
NøkkelostNorwayCow milkEight weeks (rindless) to at least three months (rinded)
NorvegiaNorwaycow milk3–12 mo
OltermanniFinlandcow milk
Pepper JackUSAcow milk
Pinzgauer BierkäseAustria, Salzburg42 daysSmooth, moist to dried yellow to red-brown smear; sometimes peppered
Queso chancoChilecow milk
Rossiysky / Poshekhonsky / Kostromskoy / SovetskyRussiacow milk1–4 mo
SamsøDenmarkcow milk
TurunmaaFinlandPasteurised cow milk2 months or more (cheese database)
TyboArgentinacow milk

Bold names have a full page with the animated steps. Blank cells: no sourced value yet.

Short entries

What the sources record about each of these so far.

Beemster (polder Gouda)Beemster polder, North Holland, Netherlands

Also called Beemster kaas, Beemster cheese.

Beemster is a Gouda-type cow-milk cheese made by the CONO cooperative from the milk of cows grazing the sea-clay Beemster polder in North Holland. It follows the Gouda washed-curd method, with the curd stirred by hand and the cheeses ripened under changing temperature and humidity. No source found gives its own times or temperatures.

Milk
Cow milk from cows grazing on sea-clay soil (outline only)
Method
Gouda method; curd stirred by hand; ripened under changing temperature and humidity (outline only)
Scale
About 475 member farmers and about 30,000 tonnes of Beemster a year (outline only)

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

Bruder BasilGermany, Bavaria

Bruder Basil is a branded Bavarian smoked cheese, now sold as Basils Original Rauchkäse by the Bergader dairy. It is a semi-soft cheese of pasteurised cow milk, smoked until the rind turns brown. The maker publishes no recipe, so the steps of the base cheese and the smoking are not known.

Milk
Pasteurised cow milk
Smoke
Smoked over birch and spruce wood, giving a brown rind
Fat
25.5 % fat as sold (cheese.com listing)
Ripening
Not published

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

CooleaCork

Irish Gouda

Milk
cow milk
Ripening
6–24 mo

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

Friese Nagelkaas PDOFriesland

cloves + cumin

Milk
cow milk, skim
Ripening
≥6 mo

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

Gammel KnasDenmark

Gammel Knas is an Arla Unika cheese from the Nr. Vium dairy in Denmark, which Arla calls an aged Havarti. It ripens for more than two years, long enough to form crunchy protein crystals and a sweet, sour and savoury taste. Arla does not publish its make.

Milk
cow milk
Ripening
more than 24 months

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

Kalimpong cheeseIndia, West Bengal

Also called Kalimpong Cheese, Kalimpong cheese, Homes Cheese (the Dr Graham's Homes version).

Kalimpong cheese is a European-style cow cheese, often called Edam-like, that Swiss Jesuit missionaries brought to the eastern Himalaya. Father André Butty's Swiss Welfare Dairy made it from about 1945; today a small family workshop at Gitabling and the Dr Graham's Homes dairy keep it going. Its recipe, times and temperatures have not been published.

Milk
Cow milk
Type
European-style hard cheese, described in a travel guide as Edam-like
Size
Wikipedia gives 1 kg and 12 kg wheels; not confirmed elsewhere

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

Safety: No published data on its milk treatment or ripening were found.

Karaván (füstölt sajt)Hungary

Also called Karaván füstölt sajt, Karaván smoked cheese, Karavan.

Karaván is Hungary's best-known smoked cheese brand. Its classic product is a smoked processed cheese, made by melting cheese with water, skim milk powder, emulsifying salts, butter and salt, then smoked over beech logs. It is a processed product made from already fermented cheese, not a ferment of its own.

Type
Smoked processed cheese (Karaván Classic and Karaván sliced)
Composition
At least 45 % fat in dry matter; per 100 g about 27 g fat, 21 g protein and 2.9 g salt (Classic, label)
Storage
0 to +10 °C (label)
  1. Start from ripened cheese
  2. Melt with emulsifying salts
  3. Smoke over beech30 °C

Safety: A processed cheese made from already fermented cheese and heated during melting; the label says to keep it at 0 to +10 °C.

KryddostSweden

cumin and clove

Milk
cow milk

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

Leidse Kaas PDOLeiden

cumin; annatto rind; keys stamp

Milk
cow milk, semi-skim

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

MariboDenmark

Danish semi-hard with many irregular eyes, slightly acid and very aromatic; partly salted in the vat; 45% FDM, max 43% moisture.

Rind
Semi-hard to hard, may be waxed; square blocks also made rindless
Size
Flat cylinder ~14 kg; flat square/rectangle ~30 cm side, ~10 cm high, ~9 kg or more
  1. Prepare the milk
  2. Set the curd
  3. Cook the curd
  4. Mould and salt
  5. Ripen42 days
NøkkelostNorway

Also called nøkkelost, nøkkel, Norwegian key cheese, Nokkelost.

A semi-hard Norwegian cow-milk cheese with small round holes, spiced with cumin and cloves in the style of Dutch Leiden and nagelkaas cheese. The rindless type ripens about eight weeks and the rinded wheel at least three months.

Milk
Cow milk
Spices
Cumin and cloves
Ripening
Eight weeks (rindless) to at least three months (rinded)
Types
Rindless (27% fat by weight), light (16%) and rinded (17%)
  1. Make the curd and add the spices
  2. Mould and press
  3. Ripenat least 56 days

Safety: No safety source specific to nøkkelost was found.

NorvegiaNorway
Milk
cow milk
Ripening
3–12 mo

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

OltermanniFinland

Oltermanni is a mild, sliceable Finnish cow-milk cheese, first made in 1980 as a 75th anniversary gift for Valio's dairy farmers and sold in shops from 1981. It was developed at the Isokyrö cooperative dairy and is now made at Valio's Haapavesi factory from local milk. Valio does not publish its make.

Milk
cow milk
Size
small cylinder (1980 gift format)

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

Pepper JackUSA
Milk
cow milk

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

Pinzgauer BierkäseAustria, Salzburg

Lean (≤15% fat in dry matter) washed-curd red-smear cheese; name said to come from beer-soaked wrapping cloths.

Rind
Smooth, moist to dried yellow to red-brown smear; sometimes peppered
Size
2–5 kg; wheel or rectangle
  1. Prepare the milk
  2. Cut and drain the curd
  3. Ripen42 days
Queso chancoChile
Milk
cow milk

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

Rossiysky / Poshekhonsky / Kostromskoy / SovetskyRussia

Soviet standard cheeses

Milk
cow milk
Ripening
1–4 mo

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

SamsøDenmark

Emmental-Gouda hybrid

Milk
cow milk

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

TurunmaaFinland

Also called Turunmaa, Turunmaa kermajuusto, Valio Turunmaa.

Turunmaa is a mild, semi-hard Finnish cow-milk cheese of the full-fat kermajuusto kind, which its maker calls a tilsit-type cheese. It is made from pasteurised milk with salt and a starter culture and ripens for about two months or more. No published source describes its make step by step.

Milk
Pasteurised cow milk
Ripening
2 months or more (cheese database)
Type
Semi-hard, tilsit type (maker's description)
Composition
Fat 32 g, protein 25 g and salt 1.6 g per 100 g (current label); a cheese database gives 50 % fat (likely in dry matter)

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

Safety: Made from pasteurised milk.

TyboArgentina
Milk
cow milk

Made like Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template).

Numbers come from cited sources and carry a label that says how each is known. How this atlas is made