harzer cheese

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Harz cheese, four loaves as a Harz roller

Harzerkäse (in roll-shaped packaging also: Harzer Roller ) is a sour milk cheese made from cow's milk that is ripened with yellow or red smear cultures and is one of the standard varieties according to the German cheese ordinance . It has a smooth surface with golden-yellow to reddish-brown smear, a supple, firm, whitish to slightly yellowish texture and tastes mildly piquant to piquant.

origin

Harz cheese originally comes from the northern Harz foreland , for example from the villages of Bad Harzburg , Vienenburg or Immenrode . As early as the 18th century, cheese was industrially produced in the Harz Mountains from skimmed sour milk , as butter production was the focus.

However, the name "Harzer cheese" is not a protected designation of origin and today the product is almost exclusively made outside the Harz region. Harz cheese comes from Hessen, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.

properties

Characteristic features

The loaves of Harz cheese are usually small and round (Taler) or roll-shaped (stick cheese). Often a few small loaves are lined up and packed and sold as a roll. In this case the cheese is also known as the "Harzer Roller".

As typical sour milk cheese, Harz cheese is low in fat (it is only available in the lean level with less than 10% fat in dry matter ) and high in protein . A typical spice of Harz cheese is caraway . The cheese has no rind and has a golden yellow surface. The dough is yellowish, in the not yet ripe cheese it has a white core. The taste of the young Harzer is hard and mildly lemony and spicy, after some maturity it becomes softer, piquant and spicy with a typical intense smell. A maturation period of 2 to 4 weeks is considered to be ideal.

Differentiation from other varieties

Various sour milk cheeses cut: a basket cheese in the back , a Harzer counter in front and a Harz cheese in front

Harzer cheese is a yellow cheese, other sour milk cheeses are similar, such as Mainz cheese and Olomouc quargel .

Occasionally the Limburger cheese is with resin cheese confused, but in which it is a different type of cheese ( Süßmilchkäse / rennet ).

production

Manufacture and maturation

Harz cheese is made from sour milk quark , which at the beginning of processing in the dairy has a dry matter of more than 30 percent and therefore a crumbly consistency. The quark is mixed with sodium chloride (NaCl), sodium hydrogen carbonate (NaHCO 3 ) and calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) as ripening salts and with already ripened cheese as culture cheese . The cultivated cheese is used to accelerate cheese ripening, which is mainly due to the bacterial strains already contained in the acidification culture of the quark and the cheese dairy house cultures that are contained in the cultivated cheese.

The cheeses are ripened for about 24 hours at a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius, after which the cheese wheels are sprayed with a red smear culture ( Brevibacterium linens ). Further maturation takes place over one to three days at 10 to 14 degrees Celsius, after which the cheese is packaged and stored in a cool place. The cheese continues to ripen during transport, storage in stores and at the consumer. The cheese wheels ripen from the outside in. The younger the cheese, the larger the mild, crumbly, white quark core, which is still reminiscent of the starting product, the sour milk quark. The fully ripened cheese wheel is consistently golden yellow and translucent. In the late stage of maturity it has completely lost its crumbly consistency and can "run" (become viscous). The cheese pieces gain aroma as they mature.

The best before date (BBD) can be used as an indication of how far the maturity has progressed . (Approximate values ​​at refrigerator temperature):

  • 5–6 weeks before the best before date: mild, white core.
  • 3–4 weeks before the best-before date: aromatic, small white core.
  • 1–2 weeks before the best before date: strong, fully ripened without a white core.

microbiology

The sour milk quark usually contains the acidifying bacteria Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus as well as a random yeast flora of different compositions. In addition, there are the cheese dairy's house cultures, which are contained in the culture cheese. In a research project of the Federal Dairy Research were in this culture besides the yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus , Candida krusei , Candida lipolytica , Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Trichosporon asahii and known Rotschmierebakterien ( Brevibacterium , Corynebacterium ) often unwanted bacteria such as Staphylococcus saprophyticus and various types of enterobacteria and enterococci identified which, as contamination flora, influence the ripening process and the formation of aromas and smells.

use

Harz cheese is used both directly, usually with bread, and in various preparations. The best-known preparation for the cheese, like other sour milk cheeses, is the so-called hand cheese with music , in which the cheese wheels are cut into pieces and cooked together with onions in a marinade of vinegar , oil , pepper and caraway seeds. The cheese is often served with dark bread and beer or cider .

Others

The name "Harzer Roller" also describes a Harz canary breed .

literature

  • Brigitte Engelmann, Beate Holler: The gourmet manual cheese. hf ullmann, Potsdam 2013, ISBN 978-3-8480-0478-2 , p. 261.
  • Juliet Harbutt (ed.): Cheese of the world. Dorling Kindersley Verlag, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-8310-1733-1 , p. 238

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cheese Ordinance , Annex 1, Table B.
  2. ↑ DPA: The dairy in Vienenburg will be closed at the end of the year. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. April 19, 2004, accessed August 9, 2016 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Brigitte Engelmann, Beate Holler: The gourmet manual cheese. hf ullmann, Potsdam 2013, ISBN 978-3-8480-0478-2 , p. 261.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Juliett Harbutt (ed.): Cheese of the world. Dorling Kindersley Verlag, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-8310-1733-1 , p. 238
  5. ↑ Hendrik Kranert: Obituary. The Harzer - a Saxon. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. August 24, 2009. Retrieved June 29, 2014 .
  6. ↑ Harz Roller. In: Duden online. Bibliographical Institute, accessed October 27, 2014 .
  7. ↑ Gerald Rimbach, Jennifer Möhring, Helmut F. Erbersdobler: Food and goods knowledge for beginners . Springer, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-642-04485-4 , pp. 42 .
  8. ↑ a b c d e Wilhelm Bockelmann, Knut J. Heller: Controlled maturation of Harz cheese . Research report on consumer protection, nutrition, agriculture 2004, pp. 28–31.