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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Poland, Wielkopolskie voivodeship

Wielkopolski ser smażony

Wielkopolski ser smażony is a spreadable cheese made by ripening crumbled sour-milk curd (twaróg) for two to three days until it turns glassy and pungent, then frying it with butter and salt. The skimmed milk is soured with lactic streptococci, and the whole cycle from milk to cup takes about a week. Melting salts are banned, so the curd has to ripen before it will melt. Made in 9 steps over 3.1 days – 4.1 days. The longest step, crumble and ripen on trays (gliwienie), takes 2–3 days (European Commission 2008) and runs at 16–27 °C (European Commission 2008). Lactic streptococci of the starter, which sour the milk into twaróg and Microbes that grow on the crumbled curd in air and break down its protein during gliwienie do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–3 daysSet[wss-spec2008]Crumble and ripen on trays (gliwienie)
Temperature16–27 °CSet[wss-spec2008]Crumble and ripen on trays (gliwienie)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification sets process limits and the 2 % starter dose, not a full recipe. The hot cheese is most often poured into 200 g cups.
Raw cow milk, skimmed to at most 1 % fat[wss-spec2008]
2 % of the milkStarter (zakwas) of pasteurised milk grown with lactic streptococci · Grown 8–10 hours at 25 °C[wss-spec2008]
Butter (milk fat only) · Most often enough to give 15 % fat; the cheese must have at least 7.5 % fat[wss-spec-current]
Salt[wss-spec2008]
Caraway · Only for the caraway variant[wss-spec2008]
Starterzakwas, pasteurised milk grown 8–10 h at 25 °C with lactic streptococci

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.1 days – 4.1 days

Start
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up to 6 °C

What changes: Cream is spun out of the raw milk, leaving skimmed milk

Step 1 of 9
Store and skim the milk
Time
up to 24 h
Set
Temperature
up to 6 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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

Unlike acid-curd cheeses that are shaped and ripened whole, here the curd is crumbled, ripened for only two to three days, then melted with butter, so the ripening, not added salts, is what makes it melt. The specification bans melting salts and any fat other than butter.

Milk
Skimmed cow milk soured into twaróg
Ripening
Crumbled curd ripened 2–3 days at 16–27 °C before frying
Composition
pH 5.2–5.6; water at most 65 %; fat at least 7.5 %
Whole cycle
From milk collection to finished cheese in no more than six or seven days (a 2026 request would allow ten)

Related ferments

Variants

  • Naturalny (plain)No additions besides butter and salt.
  • Z kminkiem (with caraway)Caraway is mixed in during frying; the seeds show in the cheese.

Safety

The specification requires no coagulase-positive staphylococci in 0.1 g and no more than 100 moulds per gram. The milk is heated to 70–75 °C, and the curd is fried at 90 °C or more and packed hot.

Hazards the sources name: Coagulase-positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus), which must be absent in 0.1 g.

History and sources

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

The specification links the cheese to Olęder settlers who came to western Wielkopolska from the late 18th century. Frying ripened curd began as a way to make fresh twaróg keep longer. Cookbooks from Toruń (1885), Poznań (1899) and the Kucharz wielkopolski (1904) give recipes. It was registered as a PGI in 2009. The current single document no longer has the 2008 limit on sulphate-reducing spores.

  1. [wss-spec2008] European Commission 2008, Publication of an application pursuant to Article 6(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006, 'Wielkopolski ser smażony' EC No PL-PGI-005-0551-04.08.2006 (single document, Polish), Official Journal C 202, 8.8.2008, pp. 23–27spec
  2. [wss-spec-current] Minister Rolnictwa i Rozwoju Wsi 2026, Obwieszczenie w sprawie wniosku o zatwierdzenie zmiany w specyfikacji produktu 'Wielkopolski ser smażony' (ChOG), with the product specification and single document (2 June 2026)gov