Swiss‐Type Cheeses (Propionic Acid Cheeses)

Abstract

Allgau Emmental cheese is a well‐known and popular cheese in Germany which is consumed throughout the year. Emmentaler must have good storage qualities, allowing it to reach its optimal maturity without any loss in quality. Emmentaler PDO is characterised by its regular round eyes and its sweet and nutty flavour. After Mozzarella and Gruyere PDO, Emmentaler is the third most produced cheese in Switzerland and is the most exported. Greve cheese gets its typical characteristics from a combination of mesophilic DL‐starter and a culture of propionic acid bacteria (PAB). Maasdammer was created in the 1970s as an alternative to (Swiss) Emmental cheese. The production of Maasdammer cheese is essentially in the Netherlands. The main (key) flavour compounds in Maasdammer cheese are those that yield the typical sweet and nutty flavour notes: pyrazines, branched‐chain aldehydes and benzaldehyde, methyl‐ketones, lactones and ethyl esters seem important.