Handkäse is a traditional German sour-milk cheese, a small, pungent, hand-shaped disc made from soured skimmed-milk curd rather than rennet-set milk. Ripened by a yellow-red surface smear, it turns from an opaque, chalky core to a glassy, translucent amber paste with a sharp, ammoniacal, powerfully aromatic bite. It is the pride of Hesse, above all the specialty "Handkäse mit Musik" — the cheese marinated with onions, oil and vinegar.