Promoting goat cheese in Germany

Bavarian cheese specialist Edelweiss (37,000 t cheese/year) from Kempten in the Alpine foothills couldn’t have picked a better time to promote goats’ milk cheese in Germany. The country’s Agrarmarkt Information Institute (AMI) says sales have spiralled in the last years, soaring by 20% to 10,697 tonnes in the three years to 2010 and a similar leap in sales is expected in the three years to 2013. The latest product from Edelweiss, which is shipped-in from the dairy’s mother concern Bongrain in France, is a so-called mild Chavroux cream cheese. The mild flavour is especially aimed at the German market where the more traditional stronger goat flavour meets with some customer resistance. Mild Chavroux with figs is marketed in the by-now traditional pyramid 150g container with the rrp for German stores €2.29.

Typical of the goat cheese boom is the experience of German organic dairy product pioneer Andechser dairy in deepest Bavaria where goats’ milk products were only launched in 1986. The number of goats milked for the dairy that year totalled around 190. Now, some 12,000 of the animals produce an estimated 8 million kg per year for Andechser. Another example: Martin Buhl from the Schwarzwald/Bodensee dairy started processing goat milk just 12 years ago. In 2012 his supplying farmers delivered 700,000 kg and goat cheese sales are estimated at a record €2 m.