Ennstaler Steirerkas PDO
Ennstaler Steirerkas PDO cheese is a culinary landmark of the region. It is traditionally produced on mountain pastures, on farms or in regional cheese dairies. It takes three weeks to mature. This is when it acquires its unique gray-brown marbled appearance and lumpy, crumbly consistency. Steirerkas is particularly popular for its spicy aroma, which makes it the ideal ingredient for Steirerkasnock'n, on Steirerkas bread or in Steirerkrapfen - but also for other culinary creations such as in soups or on spreads.
History
The way it is made by farmers has a long tradition in the Enns Valley with its many mountain pastures in the side valleys (for example in the Sölktäler). It was produced from skimmed milk many centuries ago, although there were regional differences in production. Farmers loved the hearty-smelling Ennstal Steirerkas, while people in the cities turned up their noses at it and preferred hard cheese from other countries. Ennstaler Steirerkas is a typical home-made product and is characteristic of the alpine food storage economy in this region. It was originally produced by women on farms and alpine pastures for their own use, in order to utilize surplus skimmed milk and at the same time produce provisions for long and harsh winters. As early as the 17th century, Ennstal Steirerkas was considered a healthy supplementary food for farmhands.
A copperplate engraving from Hohberg's Georgica Curiosa (1682), an encyclopaedic textbook on domestic and agricultural matters, shows cheese production in Styria at this time. Until the time of Archduke Johann (1782 to 1859), however, butter production on the mountain pastures in the Enns Valley took precedence over other dairy products. Archduke Johann himself studied the cheese-making procedures on the mountain pastures, describing them in a diary entry in 1810 and looking for improvements. The schoolmaster Karl Reiterer mentions "Steirerkas from the Enns Valley" in his notes and describes its traditional production in 1886. In 1887, the Styrian State Dairy Model Farm was founded at the Oberhof in St.Gallen, which was later continued at the Grabnerhof in Admont.
Dr. Paul Schuppli from Switzerland was appointed farm manager and, together with his wife Ida, taught the farmers about innovations from livestock breeding to dairy farming, where the milk centrifuge was put into operation for the first time. Dr. Schuppli's numerous educational trips made a lasting impression, especially to Switzerland in 1899, where the first suggestion to found a cheese dairy in Gröbming was made. On August 15, 1900, 27 dairy farmers from the Enns Valley founded the Gröbming Cheese Cooperative. They began producing cheese in the first cooperative dairy in the Ennstal region. After two years of construction, the professionalization of cheese production and the increase in the price of milk made it possible to move away from pure self-sufficiency to a profitable source of income.
Around 1900, dishes such as Kasnockerl or "Roggene Krapfen" with Steirerkas were well-known and popular with the inhabitants of the Enns Valley.
January 18, 1963 can be considered a milestone for the Ennstal Steirerkas. On this day, the dairymaids from the Sölk mountain pastures met with the cheesemaker from the Gröbminger cheese dairy at the Zaunerhof farm in Kleinsölk to discuss the production process for Ennstal Steirerkas. While the production of the cheese was previously determined purely by the experience of the dairymaids and the knowledge passed down for generations, a general production process was defined for the first time.
Good things take time
Manufacture
After milking, the milk is separated into cream and skimmed milk in a centrifuge. The cream is also turned into butter at the Schrabachalm. The skimmed milk, on the other hand, is allowed to sour in a natural process before being boiled in a kettle. Hans: "The cooked skimmed curd now already has the crumbly consistency that gives the Steirerkas its typical appearance at the end. It is seasoned with salt and pepper to preserve it, pressed into molds, turned out onto wooden boards and left to mature at room temperature". A glance into the maturing room is enough to make your mouth water: Balls of cheese in various degrees of ripeness are waiting to be crumbled again and end up on your sandwich.
"The Ennstal Steirerkas matures for at least six weeks. Then I bring it to my hard-working wife Birgit in the alpine kitchen and she serves it to hiking guests from all over the world, who appreciate its unique taste," adds the cheese connoisseur. In the summer months, the two owners of the communal alpine pasture have around 50 cattle, 20 sheep and 20 goats on the alpine pasture. 18 dairy cows are milked daily to produce delicious products. "What many people don't know: It takes around 10 liters of whole milk to make 1 kg of hard cheese and around 22 liters of whole milk to make 1 kg of butter. We are all the more pleased when guests show their appreciation for our products and our work on the alpine pasture," Hans adds in conclusion and is already looking forward to the upcoming alpine summer and the first bread with fresh, crumbly, yellow-green-grey Ennstal Steirerkas!
A visit to the Ritzingerhütte
How it tastes
Recipes
It is yellow, green and gray. It has an intense and unmistakable taste. Its crumbly shape cuts a fine figure on any sandwich. We are talking about Ennstal Steirerkas, a traditional culinary product of the region that is known and loved far beyond its borders.
Steirerkas doughnuts
Ingredients:
- ½ kg rye flour
- cold milk with a dash of hot water
- 2 tsp salt
Preparation:
First mix the ingredients to form a dough and then shape it into thumb-thick rolls. Cut off pieces about 10 centimetres long and roll out into thin, plate-sized rye doughnuts. Then fry briefly in very hot lard on both sides until they float, drain on kitchen roll and cover.
Once the doughnuts have drained well, crumble the Ennstal Steirerkas onto the doughnuts, roll them up and enjoy.
Tip: The doughnuts also taste delicious with a sauerkraut or potato filling.
Steirerkas Nockn
Ingredients:
- 300g wheatmore universal
- 250 ml lukewarm milk
- 2 eggs
- salt
Preparation:
Stir the ingredients into a smooth dough, scrape or form into boiling salted water using a dumpling scraper or board and allow to float. Then rinse in a sieve with cold water. Fry the drained dumplings in a pan with clarified butter, add the Ennstal bull rakes and fry lightly. Sprinkle with chopped salmon before serving. We recommend serving with a fresh coleslaw.
Review
Kasfest 2023
At the traditional cheese festival at Schloss Großsölk, local products of the best quality are offered every year.
Chairwoman of Genuss Region Ennstaler Steirerkas
Marianne Gruber-Ritzinger
"To be able to produce Ennstaler Steirerkas PDO, the unique crumbly cheese, as a dairymaid on our historic alpine pastures and serve it with freshly baked Styrian doughnuts, to experience how the alpine herdsmen enjoy and love this piece of home, it feels like a valuable culinary heritage of the Alps!", Marianne Gruber-Ritzinger, Chairwoman of the Ennstaler Steirerkas Enjoyment Region
Our cheese princesses
Conny and Carina Seebacher from Rohrmoos are the Kasprinzessinnen 2025/26 and represent the traditional Ennstal Steirerkas with passion. They will present the regional specialty at various appearances and bring a piece of Styrian culinary culture to the outside world.
Bronze for Ennstaler Steirerkas at the Forum Alp in Switzerland
At the ALP'24 Forum at the Culinarium Alpinum in Switzerland, which took place from November 8 to 10, 2024, Ennstaler Steirerkas PDO impressed in the dairy products category and was awarded the bronze medal. The first competition and tasting market for regional products from the Alpine region recognizes outstanding quality products from the Alps.
What does PDO mean?
The European Patent Office confirms in its certificate: "Ennstaler Steirerkas PDO is therefore to be regarded as a particularly identity-forming product that is strongly characterized by the region."
Ennstaler Steierkas has been certified with the EU's highest protection of origin - the protected designation of origin (PDO) - since 10 May 2021. This makes Ennstaler Steirerkas the 16th protected designation of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indication (PGI) from Austria, joining a prestigious list of special foods (Wachau apricots, Styrian pumpkin seed oil, Tyrolean bacon, Styrian scarlet runner bean, etc.).
Ennstaler Steirerkas Association
Chairwoman Marianne Gruber, 8962 Gröbming, Winklerstraße 79
