Cheese Tilziter

Tilsiter or Tilsit is a semi-hard cheese with a pleasant light yellow hue. The recipe for the dairy product was developed back in the XNUMXth century by the Prussian-Swiss settlers Westphals. The first cheese production was launched in the city of Sovetsk (the territory of modern Russia). In those days, the city belonged to Prussia and was called Tilsit – hence the name of the food component was formed.

What you need to know about the product, what is the history of its popularity and does tilsit hold leading positions in the gastronomic market?

General product characteristics

Tilsiter is a semi-hard cheese from Switzerland. Its flesh is colored in a light yellow hue, and its moderately hard structure is strewn with uneven holes and cracks. Commercially, tilsiter is made from pasteurized cow’s milk. The fat content of the finished product varies from 30 to 60%. The main distinguishing characteristic of the cheese is a dense dark brown rind, which contrasts with the pale flesh.

Interesting: cumin or black pepper is often added to the composition. These ingredients are not in the traditional recipe, but spices favorably emphasize the taste of tilsit and make it an ideal snack. Cheese goes well with dark beers and rye or buckwheat bread.

Tilsiter belongs to the category of ordinary table cheeses. It is eaten as a separate dish, added to salads, sandwiches, pies, main dishes and even melted in thick sauces.

Historical information

Frau Westphal lived a few kilometers from the city of Tilsit. The woman loved cheese and experimented on her family estate with different flavors and textures of dairy products. One of her best experiments is a head of delicate salty cheese, sprinkled with cumin and a pinch of black pepper. It was the prototype of the now famous tilsiter. Frau Westphal improved the recipe and removed the spices that prevented the taste buds from recognizing the true milky taste.

Later, the woman bought the land under the cheese factory and, together with her son Heinrich, launched industrial production. Even after her death, Frau Westfal continued to function throughout her life. A small estate with a cheese factory was inherited. The final part of the improvement of the cheese factory was the production of tilziter.

The cheese mass was prepared using self-pressing (without external pressure). The size of a standard head was 10 centimeters high and approximately 25 centimeters in diameter. The weight of each of them ranged from 4 to 5 kilograms. The formed heads were sent to 20% saline solution. The product was soaked in a saline liquid at a temperature of 12-15 ° C for no more than 3-x days.

Interesting: 100 kilograms of tilziter can be made from 9 liters of cow’s milk.

Wet tilsiter bars were lubricated with special compounds. They contained special cheese bacteria, which accelerated fermentation and added piquancy to the taste. The next stage is maturation. It lasted about 5-7 weeks in damp basements with no access to sunlight. During maturation, a red-brown crust was formed, which became the hallmark of the cheese.

The ripened dairy product was packed in parchment, then in tin foil. The parties were put into bulky wooden boxes and transported by sea or rail to the points of sale.

Interesting: dairy product fell in love with all categories of the population. He was even added to the standard diet of Wehrmacht soldiers in order to increase his nutritional value and benefits.

Food Component Varieties

The traditional recipe provides for 3 varieties of tilsit. Among them:

1. Green label or green stamp. Such a product is prepared on the basis of pasteurized milk. Its main difference is in the percentage of fat content and flavor palette. Cheese has a mild creamy taste without additional impurities;
2. Red label or red stamp. Cheese is made from unpasteurized milk. The finished bar has a characteristic fresh milky smell that not everyone will like. On the other hand, it is unpasteurized milk that is responsible for the unusual piquant taste of tilsit;
3. Yellow label or yellow stamp. This variety is prepared on the basis of pasteurized milk and cream. The yellow mark fat is much higher than other cheese varieties. Fans of yellow label cheese appreciate the incredibly soft texture and pronounced milky taste.

The name “Tilsit” or “Tilsiter” is not trademarked. There is a registered trademark for cheese “Tilsiter Switzerland” which differs significantly from the original. Swiss cheese is made according to a similar but not identical recipe. Finished products differ not only in taste or aroma, but also in structure – the Swiss counterpart is characterized by a delicate thin cut, and not an abundance of eyes.

The chemical composition of the food ingredient

Good and possible harm

The composition of tilziter has beneficial fatty acids, minerals and vitamins. But their benefits are not the same level of danger that lies in dairy products. Why?

There is an opinion that milk, and hence products from it, strengthen the skeletal system and saturate the body with calcium (Ca). Actually it is not. In order to qualitatively assimilate the product, the body, on the contrary, releases calcium and flushes it out of the bones. The result is a decrease in the concentration of the nutrient, a high risk of injury, thinning of the bones.

Tilsit is soaked in a 20% saline solution for several days. The salt level in the finished product is very high. Considering that a person rarely stops at 10-20 grams of cheese, the potassium-sodium balance shifts during the day. What does this lead to? To circulatory disorders, edema, a decrease in overall functionality, a slowdown in metabolism, headaches and other unpleasant symptoms. To avoid this, keep an eye on the amount of cheese eaten and neutralize it with fresh fruits/vegetables/grains.

The main danger of tilsiter is antibiotics and animal hormones. They are synthesized in the body of a cow and inevitably enter the milk. It is impossible to clean the liquid from harmful impurities. It is possible to reduce their concentration – to keep livestock in quality conditions, to carry out humane slaughter and to abandon antibiotics for milk production. Animal enzymes can lead to hormonal imbalance, eating disorders and psycho-emotional instability. Give up dairy products or pay attention to their composition, quality certificates and product reviews.