Soviet cheese

Altai cheesemakers back in the early 30s of the last century began to produce Soviet cheese, which to this day is very popular. The history of cheese making in Altai begins in 1900, when the first cheese factory appears in the Krasnoshchekovskaya province. A small cheese factory began to produce light and low-cost cheeses such as Cheddar and Buckstein.

What is noteworthy, the first to export abroad (to Great Britain) were Altai cheeses, which were produced back then in the Russian Empire. In 1912, Altai cheesemakers could offer Dutch, Gaud and Russian-Swiss cheese to foreign connoisseurs. After the revolution, the pace of cheese making in Altai decreased and only with the creation of a recipe for Soviet cheese, the former glory to the cheesemakers of the region returns.

The chief technologist and cheese maker with many years of experience named Dmitry Anatolyevich Grannikov begins his experiments with the recipe of Swiss cheeses. The Soviet cheese maker learned the art of making cheeses from Swiss craftsmen, who were reluctant to share their professional secrets with young specialists.

Then Grannikov decided to create his own unique recipe, in which the cheese will ripen faster, and more ingredients will not need to be spent on its production. But the main goal of the cheesemaker was to create cheese that was not inferior in taste to Swiss. Quite quickly, Altai masters received the first fruits of their work in the form of Soviet cheese, which ripened for 60 days.

This cheese refers to hard rennet varieties. Soviet cheese is produced from pasteurized cow's milk. The cheese is shaped like a rectangular bar. Usually the head of Soviet cheese does not exceed 16 kg in weight. The composition of Soviet cheese contains up to 50% fat. The cheese recipe is based on Swiss cheese traditions, which makes the taste of Altai cheese similar to Swiss varieties.

Soviet cheese is characterized by a specific both spicy and sweet taste. On the cut of Soviet cheese, oval cheese eyes clearly appear, which also distinguishes Swiss cheeses. The color of the Soviet cheese is yellow, the cheese body is plastic and cuts well.

During the USSR, Soviet cheese was seriously compared with Swiss cheeses and even put them on a par in terms of taste and consumer qualities. We must pay tribute to domestic cheesemakers and admit that Soviet cheese is really not bad. However, one should not be mistaken and believe that hard Soviet cheese can really compete with the world famous Swiss cheeses Schabziger, Emmental or Sbrinz.