Tilsit cheese

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Tilsiter cheese

Tilsit cheese or Tilsiter cheese is a light yellow semi-soft cheese, created in the mid-19th century by Russian-Swiss settlers, the Westphal family, from the Emmental valley. The original buildings from the cheese plant still exist in Sovetsk, Russia, formerly Tilsit on the Neman River in East Prussia. ^[1]

The same ingredients to make the cheese were not available as in their home country and the cheese became colonized by different molds, yeasts, and bacteria in the humid climate. The result was a cheese which was more intense and full flavored. The settlers named the cheese after Tilsit, the Prussian town they had settled in. ^[1]

Tilsiter has a medium-firm texture with irregular holes or cracks. Commercially produced Tilsiter is made from pasteurized cow's milk, ranges from 30 to 60 percent milk fat and has a dark yellow rind. Often flavoured with caraway seed and peppercorns, Tilsiter is a superb complement to hearty brown/rye breads and dark beers. It is a common table cheese, yet extremely versatile. Tilsit can be eaten cubed in salads, melted in sauces, on potatoes, flans, or burgers.

Using the re-imported recipe, Tilsiter has been manufactured in Switzerland since 1893. Swiss Tilsiter is mainly produced in 3 varieties. A mild version (green label) is made from pasteurized milk, a more strongly flavoured one from fresh, unpasteurized milk (red label), and the yellow-labeled "Rahm-Tilsiter" is produced from pasteurized milk with added cream.^[2]

[edit] Varieties

In addition to Switzerland, varieties of Tilsit are manufactured in Denmark (known as Havarti), Poland (known as Tylzycki), Austria, Germany, Netherlands, and Norway.^[3]