Vorarlberger Alpkäse

Appearance & taste

Vorarlberger Alpkäse is made in wheels of up to 40 kg. The rind is dried, grainy and brownish-yellow to brown. The paste is ivory-coloured and firm enough to slice to supple; when cut, it shows sparse, evenly distributed, round holes about the size of a pea, matt to shiny.

The taste is mild and becomes sharp with age. Depending on the degree of ripeness, the characteristics are more or less pronounced. Each wheel carries a casein mark with a serial number.

Production

Only natural raw milk from cows on officially recognised Alpine, Vorsäß and Maisäß farms with grassland farming is used. Silage may neither be produced nor fed. At least 80 % of the feed comes from the area; up to 20 % of the dry matter may be cereal meal, which may be bought in because hardly any cereals grow in the mountain area.

The cheese is made directly on the Alpine pastures and Vorsäße. According to the specification, the method is based on “Süßsennen” or “Fettsennen” (full-fat cheesemaking). The small Alpine dairies have preserved the craft of making, caring for and ripening the cheese to this day. Milk production, processing and ripening take place in the area.

Origin & history

The Alpine farms lie in Vorarlberg at 1,000 to 1,800 m and, within the three-tier system of valley farm, Vorsäß and Alpine pasture, are worked only in summer. Vorarlberg practises pure grassland farming. According to the specification, the Alpine vegetation and the predominantly green feed give the milk a particular flavour component. Processing the raw milk on the Alpine pasture is an important economic part of Vorarlberg’s agriculture and dairy farming.

Cheese has been made in what is now Vorarlberg for many hundreds of years, for a long time mainly for the farmers’ own use and for regional sale. Documents record “Süßsennen” or “Fettsennen” as early as the time of the Thirty Years’ War. In the 18th century most of the Alpine milk was already made into Alpkäse, and the name “Vorarlberger Alpkäse” has been in use ever since. Full-fat cheesemaking with its particular techniques developed in the mid-18th century and made the cheese keep longer. Knowledge of feeding, milk processing and ripening was passed down from generation to generation.