🇦🇹 Austrian cheeses

Austrian cheeses are mostly mountain cheeses made from cow's milk on Alpine pastures and in mountain valleys; seven names are protected in the EU as PDO.

Tyrol gives three of them. Tiroler Almkäse is made only in the summer season on pastures up to 2,500 m: wheels of 30–60 kg, copper kettles, 4.5–6 months of ripening, an aromatic and piquant taste. Tiroler Bergkäse is a loaf of at least 12 kg from the milk of Alpine or valley farms, from mild to slightly piquant. The third, Tiroler Graukäse, is entirely different: an acid-curd cheese made without rennet, with mould that grows from the surface inwards. Its name is the oldest of the seven (1996).

Vorarlberg is represented by Vorarlberger Alpkäse from pastures at 1,000–1,800 m (wheels up to 40 kg, at least three months) and Vorarlberger Bergkäse (wheels of 7–40 kg). Both carry a casein mark with a serial number, and silage is not allowed. In Carinthia the cheese is Gailtaler Almkäse: raw milk only from the pastures of the Gailtal Alps, at least seven weeks of ripening, up to 10% goat's milk.

The seventh name is Ennstaler Steirerkas from Styria, in the Liezen district: a low-fat sour-milk cheese from skimmed milk that ripens for at least three weeks under noble mould. It is crumbly and sharp, and its smell grows stronger with age.

All seven belong to the section "Protected cheese names".