Cheese dairy in Ettal

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Say cheese - Ettal working cheese dairy open to the public

“Since I have been working here I have had enormous respect for the work of the farmers. And the words Direct Marketing have now a completely different meaning for me,” says Cordula Hosp.

A lot of people share this feeling and you can taste the difference: The cows graze on species-rich meadows and are not give silo food. This silage-free milk is the guarantee of a “Kas” (cheese) that tastes better than a vacuum-packed Dutch cheese.

In front of the Alpine dairy there is a board with a list of all the farmers participating in the new cooperative, 37 in number. They benefit from the dairy, as someone who has ten cows is no longer competitive in the milk market today.

And if he has perhaps dedicated himself to old races threatened with extinction such as the Murnau-Werdenfels that are admittedly robust and sure-footed but not living milk machines then it becomes even more difficult.
Hence the idea of the cooperative. Every individual benefits, guest and local in equal measure and that is not only in the taste. As only where farmers are working as land conservers and mountain pastures are still being managed are erosion and desolation prevented.

The Ettal Working Cheese Dairy is designed so that you can watch the production process of the milk to the golden yellow cheese through glass windows: From the delivery of the fresh milk via the addition of the rennet to the use of the harp that chops up the coagulated mass (for dates of guided tours please click here). The curd is then put in moulds and immersed into a salt bath. Finally the cheese lands in the maturing cellar.

The Ettalers have imported the cheesemaker from the Allgäu as good cheese is always the consequence of the craftsmanship of the “master” and the product of his ideas. And the man certainly has them: A wild garlic cheese or the beer cheese, very tasty! And as in the end you just have to have a taste, in the dairy there is a little café where you can still buy at fair prices.

After such an Ammergau ploughman’s lunch you really need to have the Ettal herbal liqueur to aid your digestion where the 40 herbs develop their effect!
In the course of the competition “Germany - Land of Ideas” the working cheese dairy open to the public was nominated as “Selected landmark 2006”. With that it is now part of this unique range of 365 landmarks that represent Germany as a land of ideas in a quite outstanding way.

On 25.07.2006 the working dairy celebrated this award with a large festival: Music, dancing, regional specialities and children’s guided tours on the topic “How the milk gets into and out of the cow” were some of the things on the programme. The festival was a great success – more than 1 200 guests joined in and made the day an unforgettable experience.
 

Further information:

Mandlweg 1
82488 Ettal
Telephone 0 88 22 / 92 39 26