hard cheese

hard cheese are sweet-milk cheeses consisting of a firm to very firm cheese mass. Through intensive curd processing with the cheese harp and by ‘burning’ the curd, they achieve a very high dry matter content of at least 60% and have a very long shelf life – the water content in the fat-free cheese mass is lowest in this cheese group, at 56% or less. hard cheese (such as Allgäuer Bergkäse g.U. or Rösslerhof Emmentaler) have a maturing period of at least three months and often considerably longer – a Parmigiano Reggiano DOP can even be matured for more than three years. hard cheese contain no lactose (milk sugar) or only trace amounts. During the cheese-making process, the majority of the whey drains off, taking with it a significant proportion of the lactose. During the long maturing period, the remaining lactose is largely, if not completely, broken down into lactic acid by lactic acid bacteria.