Cheese Database

Harzer vs Sura Kees

Harzer

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Semi-soft
Type
Washed rind
Rind
Washed rind
Country
Germany

Harzer is a German sour-milk cheese made from cow's milk, specifically from a lean curd. It is small, pale at the start, and stronger as the surface ripens. Many pieces are short rolls dotted with caraway, and others are little rounds. The smell grows loud with age, while the young cheese is milder. It is a lean cheese sold in ordinary shops, not a rare farm specialty.

Sura Kees

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Soft
Rind
No rind
Country
Austria
Place
Bludenz District

Sura Kees is a soft cow's milk cheese from the Bludenz District in Austria. The name means sour cheese in local speech, and the taste follows that plain description. Dairies make it from skimmed milk, so the paste is lean and tangy rather than buttery or sweet. A young loaf is white and crumbly, while an older one can turn glossy on the outside and stay firmer within. It is a sour-milk cheese for the table, not a rich alpine wheel meant for a long melt.