Győr-Moson-Sopron megyei Csemege sajt

Appearance & taste

The cheese has the shape of a disc with a flat top and bottom and a convex side, 20 to 22 cm in diameter and 7 to 9 cm high; it weighs 2.1 to 3.1 kg. The rind is thin, flexible and porous, evenly reddish to yellow, and feels slightly greasy. The paste is yellowish to white, with densely and evenly distributed cracks on the cut surface. It is somewhat soft, easy to cut and crumbles in the mouth. The cheese contains at least 51.5 % dry matter, 45 % (± 2) fat in dry matter and 2 % (± 0.5) salt.

The smell is slightly milky, and according to the specification the taste is pleasantly aromatic, salty and slightly sour. The longer the cheese ripens, the stronger its smell and taste become. After four to five weeks a hint of ammonia appears, and the texture becomes even softer. The crumbly texture comes from the strong protein breakdown during ripening.

Production

The ingredients are cow’s milk, GMO-free starter cultures with lactic acid and ripening bacteria, enzymes for coagulation, calcium chloride and table salt. The milk is coagulated with enzymes, the curd is cut and worked, then the cheese is moulded, pressed and salted.

It is ripened only on pinewood boards at a humidity above 90 %. According to the specification, the boards are the source of the most important ripening flora, Brevibacterium linens, which multiplies in the area largely naturally. On the fourth or fifth day a light yellow coating appears on the surface. Every three to four days the cheese is turned and wiped with brine, very carefully so that it does not break; by the second week it is almost completely covered. Yeasts on the surface break down lactate, so the pH of the rind rises quickly. The intensive ripening progresses from the outside towards the centre and takes about three weeks; the cheese is then stored at 2 to 8 °C. All steps from preparing the milk to wiping and drying the cheese take place in the area.

Origin & history

The county of Győr-Moson-Sopron is a plain formed from sediments of the Danube and the rivers Rába-Rábca, Répce and Ikva. According to the specification, the soil and rainfall are particularly suited to growing maize and roughage, which feeds the area’s many dairy cows. In 1886 a research centre was founded in Csermajor where young people learned all the steps from milk production to marketing; in 1903 the forerunner of today’s Institute of Dairy Science, which researches and advises on milk processing, was established in Mosonmagyaróvár.

According to the specification, the cheese has been highly regarded for over a century, thanks to its taste, aroma and crumbly texture. From 1995 to 2005 it regularly took part in the cheese competition in Csermajor.