Milbenkäse (" mite cheese"), called Mellnkase in the local dialect and often known as Spinnenkäse ("spider cheese"), is a German speciality

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...

. It is made by flavouring balls of

quark A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly o ...

(a type of soft cheese) with caraway and salt, allowing them to dry, and then leaving them in a wooden box containing

rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...

flour and cheese mites for about three months. An enzyme in the

digestive juices Gastric acid, gastric juice, or stomach acid is a digestive fluid formed within the stomach lining. With a pH between 1 and 3, gastric acid plays a key role in digestion of proteins by activating digestive enzymes, which together break down the ...

excreted by the mites causes the cheese to ripen. Milbenkäse tastes similar to

Harzer Harzer cheese is a German sour milk cheese made from low fat curd cheese, which originates in the Harz mountain region south of Braunschweig. Harzer is often small and round, in which case it is called ''Handkäse'' or '' Taler'', or cylindrica ...

cheese, but with a bitter note (increasing with age) and a zesty aftertaste. Mites clinging to the cheese rind are consumed along with the cheese. Historically, the cheese was produced in the Zeitz and

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

districts of the Saxony-Anhalt / Thuringia border region; today it is produced exclusively in the village of

Würchwitz Würchwitz is a village and former municipality in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 July 2009, it is part of the town Zeitz. It is the only place in the world that produces Milbenkäse (''mite cheese''), a German sp ...

, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. The traditional method of making Milbenkäse, which dates back to the Middle Ages, was nearly lost by 1970, with only the elderly Liesbeth Brauer knowing the technique. Local science teacher Helmut Pöschel was taught the proper way to make it and together with his associate, Christian Schmelzer, succeeded in revitalizing the tradition. A Cheese Mite Memorial was later erected at Würchwitz to celebrate the renaissance of Milbenkäse production.

Production

Quark A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly o ...

flavoured with salt and caraway is shaped into small balls, cylinders or wheels, and dried. It is then placed in a wooden box containing rye flour and inhabited by ''

Tyrophagus casei ''Tyrophagus casei'', the cheese mite, is a species of mite which is inoculated into ' and ''Altenburger Ziegenkäse'' cheese during their production. It is long, and feeds on cheese, corn, flour, old honeycombs, bird collections, and smoked mea ...

'' mites for at least three months. The digestive juices of the mites diffuse into the cheese and cause

fermentation Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food ...

; the flour is added because the mites would otherwise simply eat the whole cheese instead of just nibbling away at the crust as is desired. After one month, the cheese rind turns yellow; after three months, reddish brown. Some producers allow the cheese to ripen for up to one year, until it has turned black.

Legality

Milbenkäse falls into a legal grey area: European Union regulations allow the sale of foodstuffs containing living animals if they are "prepared for placing on the market for human consumption".Article 2(b) at eur-lex.europa.eu
/ref> On the other hand, cheese mites or their digestive juices are not explicitly permitted as additives for cheese according to the relevant German food ordinances (''Zusatzstoff-Zulassungsverordnung'' and ''Käseverordnung''). Milbenkäse is produced under a permit by the local

food safety Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent food-borne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from t ...

office, and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points compliance of the product is enforced.

References

External links

German language site about mite cheese

German language article on mite cheese
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milbenkase German cheeses Mites as food Cuisine of Saxony-Anhalt Thuringian cuisine

Production

Legality

See also

References

External links