Nieheimer Käse

What is Nieheimer Käse Cheese?

Farms around Nieheim in eastern Westphalia have made this sour milk cheese since the early 19th century. Several dozen production businesses once worked there. Today one is left. The cheese was close to forgotten before tourism brought it back into view, and the German Cheese Museum in Nieheim, formerly the Westfalen Culinarium, covers its story. Every two years the municipality holds a large cheese market.

Production starts by letting milk go sour, then heating it to 50 °C so the quark separates out. The quark is hung in a cloth bag to drain, ground, and packed into a wooden mould that stands in a warm place to ripen. It is then kneaded with salt and, if wanted, caraway. Depending on how long it ripens, the result is Handkäse, Kochkäse, or a hard grating cheese that keeps well. Unlike other sour milk cheeses, ripening comes from the bacteria and yeast cultures already in the sour milk quark, with no ripening cultures added.

The wheels are small cylinders, 4 to 4.5 cm across, 2 to 2.5 cm high, and 32 to 37 g each. The surface is smooth and yellowish to grey-green, sometimes laid with hop leaves. Inside, the paste is evenly colored, cuts to a smooth face, and is often shot through with caraway. It ripens all the way through, leaving no white quark core. The taste is clean, sharp and piquant, with a caraway note when caraway is used.

It can be made firm enough to slice, at 45 to 46% dry matter, or as a grating cheese at around 60% dry matter. Fat in dry matter sits at 1.5 to 1.6%, and absolute fat content stays under 1%.