Tekovský salámový syr

Appearance & taste

Tekovský salámový syr (“Tekov salami cheese”) is a cylinder 30 to 32 cm long and 9 to 9.5 cm in diameter. Its shape is reminiscent of a sausage and gave it its name; the individual cheeses do not all weigh exactly the same. It is cream-coloured to slightly yellowish, the smoked variety golden yellow. The paste is fine, supple and elastic, and the cut surface is closed, without holes or with small ones.

The cheese tastes slightly sour, of milk, slightly aromatic and slightly salty, the smoked variety with a typical smoky note. During the relatively short ripening period it develops a slightly sour, pronounced cheese and milk flavour. It contains 53.5 to 58.5 % dry matter, 43 to 47.5 % fat in dry matter and at most 2.5 % salt. The smoked variety may be called “Tekovský salámový syr údený”.

Production

The raw milk is pasteurised at 73 to 79 °C and starter cultures are added; according to the specification, where it comes from is not decisive for the quality. Renneting, cutting and curd preparation follow the usual method for semi-hard cheeses. Curd and whey are poured into moulds, in which the cheese is pressed for about 80 minutes.

After that the work is done by hand: the still warm cheese is carefully turned out of the mould onto the palm of the hand so that it does not lose its shape. The cheese sausages are separated and inspected visually, faulty ends are removed and the cheeses are placed on the pallets for salting. They lie in saturated brine for 24 hours and dry for 24 hours at about 13 °C. The smoked variety goes into cold smoke from wood chips at 30 to 35 °C until it is golden yellow. The cheeses then ripen for at least two weeks on pallets at 8 to 12 °C and at most 90 % humidity and are wrapped in food film. The entire production takes place in the area.

Origin & history

Tekov is the historical name, still in common use today, of a mainly flat region in the south of western Slovakia that reaches the Štiavnica Mountains in the north. The region is known as a wine-growing area and for its cattle farming; according to the specification, it is one of the largest milk producers in Slovakia.

Cheesemaking began here in 1905, when one of the first cooperative dairies in Slovakia was founded in Bátovce. The salami cheese itself was developed in 1921 by a dairy in Dobrá Niva; it was destroyed in the Second World War. After nationalisation, production was moved to Tekovské Lužany in 1949, to Šahy in 1953 and to Levice after 1996, all places in the area. According to the specification, the method has hardly changed in the process. After the Second World War cheesemaking provided work above all for women and became an important source of income for the region.