Mainz cheese

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Mainzer Handkäs with music from the Weisenauer Rhoischnook

Mainz cheese is a sour milk cheese , similar to the Harz or hand cheese . It was invented in 1813 by a farmer named Kaul in Groß-Gerau and sold at the weekly market in Mainz . Hand cheese became popular and demand increased steadily. At the turn of the century there were around 25 cheese factories in Groß-Gerau, and more had been established in the neighboring towns. The expanding cheese production also brought a certain economic upswing in the villages of the Gerauer Land , in which there were otherwise hardly any significant earning opportunities. In Worfelden , for example , a large farming family succeeded in establishing a cheese monopoly and thereby securing the advantages of this advantage. The operators of the five cheese dairies working in the village were all related or related by marriage.

The invention of a cheese molding machine by the innkeeper Peter Traißer II from Groß-Gerau finally revolutionized cheese production. The small family businesses were no longer able to cope with the quantitative demands of the markets and had to gradually stop their production. Some of the typical colloquial house names in Gerauer Land still refer to the former production facilities in Worfelden. For example, “at the Kees-Fritz” or “to the Kees-Peerer's” .

Mainz cheese is made from cow's milk , more precisely lean sour milk quark from the mat . It is very rich in protein and low in fat. The sour milk quark is mixed with table salt and ripening salts and formed into patties after a few hours. The maturation time is between 24 and 26 hours. The consistency is a smooth and firm dough with an unmistakable aroma. The water content is between 60 and 73%.

In Mainz, this cheese is popularly mostly Handkäs called. It is often served as a hand cheese with music pickled in a marinade of vinegar, wine, oil, onions and offered with or without caraway seeds .

The Mainz cheese is also established at the Mainz Carnival : there it is packed in small bags by the Carnival Guard Die Haubinger from 1857 - instead of "Bomboo" - tossed.

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