Goldsteig — Germany’s Mozzarella Capital Is in the Bavarian Forest

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Why this maker matters

One of the biggest mozzarella producers in Germany is not in Italy — it’s in the Bavarian Forest, run as a joint venture of four cooperatives. Goldsteig is the plot twist in the Bavarian cheese story: Bavarian milk, Italian soul, and one of the country’s largest mozzarella outputs.

The story

1992: four cooperatives form a joint venture headquartered in Cham, in the Upper Palatinate. The bet: that Bavarian milk could win at Italy’s own game. It worked — Goldsteig is now one of Germany’s largest mozzarella producers.

The scale is cooperative-industrial: around 650 employees processing some 880 million kilos of milk a year from roughly 3,300 supplying farms, with plants in Tittling and Stephansposching. Beyond mozzarella — including an organic line — the range covers Emmentaler, Almdammer, Ricotta, and Mascarpone. Goldsteig ended its soft-cheese production, including Camembert, when its Plattling plant closed in June 2017.

The cheeses

Mozzarella (incl. organic) — the flagship; one of Germany’s largest outputs
Emmentaler — Allgäuer Emmentaler → (note: Goldsteig’s Emmentaler is Upper Palatinate/Bavarian Forest, not PDO Allgäuer)
Almdammer — the semi-hard line
Ricotta, Mascarpone — the Italian-soul fresh range

Finding it in America

No US distribution for Goldsteig could be verified. The American angle here is conceptual rather than commercial: the next time someone tells you great mozzarella only comes from Italy, you know about Cham.

Visiting

No public tour information could be confirmed.