(Odenwälder breakfast cheese)
This breakfast cheese, also known as Odenwäld hand cheese, is a reddish soft cheese from the Hessian Odenwald region. The name 'breakfast cheese' comes from the fact that it was traditionally eaten for breakfast by farmers after milking their cows in the morning.
This cheese has a long tradition in the Odenwald area – documents from the 18th century show that farmers once used the cheese to pay part of their leases. The cheese is yellowish, soft, and supple and with holes dispersed throughout the paste.
It has a strong flavor and the a spicy, piquant aroma, albeit not as intense as many other kinds of regular Handkäse. Odenwäld breakfast cheese is served in many traditional restaurants in Odenwald as 'hand cheese with music', with a marinade of diced onions, oil, vinegar, cumin, pepper, and salt.
The cheese is now only produced by a single dairy company in Mossautal, and it is mostly marketed within the region.
