Holsteiner Tilsiter

What is Holsteiner Tilsiter Cheese?

Tilsit cheese, also called Tilsiter, was created in the mid-19th century by the Westphal family, Prussian-Swiss settlers from the Emmental valley. They named it after Tilsit, the town where they had settled, now Sovetsk in Russia on the Neman River. The original cheese plant buildings still stand there.

The settlers could not get the same ingredients they had used at home. In the humid climate the cheese was colonized by different moulds, yeasts and bacteria, and what came out was more intense and full-flavoured than the cheese they set out to make.

The recipe travelled back west. Switzerland has made Tilsiter since 1893 and Germany since 1920, where it carries the protected brand name Holsteiner Tilsiter.

It is a pale yellow semi-hard smear-ripened cheese with a medium-firm texture and irregular holes or cracks. Commercially produced Tilsiter is made from pasteurized cow's milk, runs from 30 to 60 percent milk fat, and has a dark yellow rind. After the main part of production the cheese rests for another two months. Caraway seed and peppercorns are common additions.

Tilsiter is a common table cheese and a versatile one. It suits hearty brown and rye breads and dark beers, and it can be cubed into salads, melted into sauces, served on potatoes, baked in flans, or put on burgers.