The cheeses made in and around Pfalz: the protected names first, then the local cheeses people actually eat, with their milk, rind, ageing and taste.

The cheeses of Pfalz

Handkäse

OtherWashed rindAlso Handkäs

A small round sour-milk cheese of low-fat quark, broken up with a whisk, mixed with baking soda and salt and shaped into loaves, once by hand and now by machine. The loaves sweat in a warm room and are sprayed with brine, in some kinds one carrying red-smear cultures. In the Palatinate its home is Lustadt, whose villagers specialised in making it after 1785 and took the nickname Handkeesdricker; their Handkäse fair, first held in 1925, runs around 1 May. Only the name Hessischer Handkäse is protected, for cheese made and packed in Hesse, so Palatinate Handkäse is not.

Taste: Mild with a white core when young, more aromatic and then strongly flavoured as it ripens; fully ripe cheese has no white core, and overripe cheese turns translucent and ammoniac. Lean: under 1% fat and about 25% protein. Sold with or without caraway.

Ageing: About 2 days in a sweating room at 25 to 28 °C; some kinds are then sprayed with red-smear brine and ripened about 2 more days

Made in: Associated above all with the Rhine-Main area and neighbouring Hesse, Rheinhessen and the Palatinate, where Lustadt in the Germersheim district has held a Handkäse fair since 1925. The PGI name Hessischer Handkäse is limited to cheese made and packed in Hesse

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Bibeleskäs

FreshAlso Weißer Käs

Quark worked with chives, salt and pepper and a little milk and cream, sometimes with onion, shallot or garlic. German Wikipedia gives Bibeleskäs as the Alemannic name and says northern Baden and the (Kur-)Pfalz call it weißer Käs; the old base was a dry, crumbly sour-milk white cheese, now rarely sold in Germany. In the Palatinate it is eaten as Gequellde mit weiße Kees, jacket potatoes with seasoned quark, and the Pfalz tourism board's recipe serves weißer Käs of quark, cream and chives with crushed, oven-crisped potatoes.

Taste: Fresh quark seasoned with chives, salt and pepper, sometimes onion, shallot or garlic. German Wikipedia calls it a simple but tasty dish, low in fat, with a refreshing character, and says it is often served in the warm season.

Ageing: None; eaten fresh

Made in: Baden and Alsace, and under the name weißer Käs northern Baden and the (Kur-)Pfalz

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Cheeses in Pfalz, FAQ

Where in the Palatinate is Handkäse celebrated?

In Lustadt, where the Loschter Handkeesfescht was founded in 1925 and is held around 1 May. The festival's own history page says hand-pressing Handkäse was a centuries-old household tradition in Lustadt before the first fair.

Is Handkäse protected?

Only the name Hessischer Handkäse, registered as a PGI by Commission Regulation (EU) 784/2010. Since September 2010 only sour-milk cheese made and packed in Hesse may carry it. Handkäse as a type is not protected, and the Palatinate is not in Hesse.

What do people drink with it in the Palatinate?

German Wikipedia says cider is the usual drink with Handkäse, but that in some areas such as Rheinhessen and the Palatinate a dry white wine is drunk with it as well. The Lustadt fair's own page lists a Handkeesbrot with a Weinschorle or a beer.

What is weißer Käs in the Palatinate?

According to German Wikipedia, weißer Käs is the name used in northern Baden and the (Kur-)Pfalz for what Alemannic speakers call Bibeleskäs, quark mixed with herbs.

What is it eaten with?

German Wikipedia says it is served mostly with potatoes (boiled, baked, fried or as rösti) or with fresh farmhouse bread. Its article on Palatinate cooking lists Gequellde mit weiße Kees, jacket potatoes with quark seasoned with onion, caraway, pepper or chives, as a popular dish, and the Pfalz tourism board's recipe pairs it with crushed, oven-baked potatoes.

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