Wielkopolski ser smażony

Appearance & taste

Wielkopolski ser smażony is firm, homogeneous and plastic. Depending on the amount of butter and how strongly it was fried, it is light cream to yellow. The specification describes the flavour and smell as typical of fried cheese: fairly piquant and distinctive, brought about by the ripened quark. The cheese contains at most 65 % water and at least 7.5 % fat.

Only two variants may be sold under the name: plain and with caraway. In the caraway variant the seeds are visible in the cheese, and besides the aroma of quark the caraway can clearly be tasted and smelled. Each pack bears the name “Wielkopolski ser smażony” and the protected geographical indication symbol.

Production

The producers obtain fresh milk from farmers they can inspect. The raw milk is stored for at most 24 hours at no more than 6 °C, skimmed in centrifuges to at most 1 % fat and heated to 70 to 75 °C for at least 30 seconds. It is soured at 20 to 23 °C with 2 % of the dairy’s own starter made from pasteurised milk and lactococci. The curd is warmed slowly, over about two hours, to 32 to 33 °C, cut and turned. After the whey is drained off, it is pressed until the quark contains about 64 % water.

The quark is crumbled and spread on trays in the ripening room. There it ripens for two to three days at 16 to 27 °C, during which the protein breaks down naturally until a glassy mass forms; unripened quark should then make up less than 25 %. According to the specification, this ripening decisively shapes the flavour and smell. The ripened quark is mixed with butter, salt and caraway if used, and fried for about 15 minutes at at least 90 °C. Fats other than butter and additives that replace ripening, such as emulsifying salts, are prohibited.

The cheese is packed and shaped at the production plant immediately after frying, while it is still hot; reheating after it has cooled is not permitted. No more than six or seven days may pass from raw milk to finished cheese, because milk or quark stored for too long harms the quality.

Origin & history

From the end of the 18th century, so-called Hauländer came to Wielkopolska, especially to the west: settlers first from the Netherlands, later mainly from German-speaking areas. According to the specification, they most probably introduced the frying of cheese. Together with the Bamberg tenant farmers, Catholic settlers from Upper Franconia, they shaped a high standard of agriculture with dairy farming. When the cows gave more milk, people looked for ways to make fresh quark keep; letting it ripen and frying it extended the time in which it could be eaten.

Fried cheese is typical of the west of Wielkopolska with the Nowy Tomyśl plain and of the centre of the region. Old writings mention it, such as a household book published in Poznań in 1899 and the cookbook “Kucharz wielkopolski” by Marja Śleżańska from 1904. Over time it became an everyday food in the region, where according to the specification it is part of breakfast and supper. Most of it is sold in Poznań today.