Hard Swiss cheeses. Swiss cheese - how to choose

Alexander Krupetskov 28 years, eight of them he worked as a programmer. In July, Alexander opened a shop of European cheeses in Moscow Cheese Sommelier, and a month later it became impossible to import cheese from Western Europe. However Cheese Sommelier not closed - Gorgonzola and Roquefort were replaced by cheeses from Argentina, Serbia, Morocco, Belarus, Krasnodar Territory. As they say, without fish, because there is no gastronomic substitute for French and Italian cheeses and you should not indulge yourself with illusions that Krasnodar Camembert can be an alternative to French. Can not.

However, some of the cheeses of the Old World remained in our stores. We decided to do Cheese sommelier a few interviews about how to properly prepare fondue, assemble a cheese plate, match wine to cheese and, in principle, how to learn to understand cheeses. Today - in Swiss.

Swiss classic

Sasha, if we talk about taste - French cheese, Italian, Swiss, what is the fundamental difference between them?

They are radically different. French cheeses are mostly soft. That is, of course, there are also hard varieties, but soft cheeses are the hallmark of France. Italian cheese pool - with mold, parmesan and sheep. And in Switzerland, most cheeses are made from cow's milk, and these are cows raised in alpine meadows. Cheese made from Alpine milk can be hard or semi-hard, but certainly aged, with its own character. Swiss cheeses do not have very flashy tastes, but Alpine milk is clearly felt in them.

Are the cheeses made in the French, Italian, German cantons of Switzerland very different?

Every Swiss cheese has its own region of origin and its own protected name. Let's say Gruyère is the Canton of Friborg, Neuchâtel, Vaud and Jura, and it can't be produced anywhere else.

Which cheeses are famous in Switzerland? Let's start with the most popular and end with cheeses for aesthetes and advanced gourmets.

The most famous Swiss cheese in the world Emmental. Although it originates from the Emme Valley in the Swiss canton of Bern, its name is not a registered trademark and Emmental is made in France and Holland in addition to Switzerland. It can be made even in Russia by applying a certain technology. But I would say that all these are parodies of the real Emmental.

Why? What are the taste standards of Emmental?

Spicy sweetish taste with a slight nutty tinge. Many people like it precisely due to its recognizable taste, in the world it is called “Swiss cheese”. The huge heads of Emmental, up to 130 kilograms, are covered with a brownish-yellow crust, and in the body of the cheese there are holes-eyes that are formed during the release of carbon dioxide during the ripening of the cheese. Without it, there can be no fondue: the proportions of the classic Swiss fondue are 2/3 of Emmental, 1/3 of Gruyère.

Gruyère is the number two Swiss cheese, I take it?

Yes. This hard yellow cheese without holes is made in the canton of Friborg. The center of this canton is the region Gruyere. Gruyere produces about 60 farms there. But in fact, the consumption of this cheese is gigantic. A distinctive feature of Gruyère is that it takes a lot of milk to produce it. If the usual hard and semi-hard cheese is 8-9 liters of milk per 1 kg of cheese, then about 12 liters of milk is spent per kilogram of Gruyère. Gruyère comes in different agings - from 5 to 15 months. Naturally, the taste of cheese depends on the ripening time. The classic taste of Gruyère is nutty and fruity, but cave-aged cheeses already have a richer and more mysterious flavor bouquet.

I'm sorry, Gruyère, is that cheese for a sandwich?

No, what are you! It is a cheese for a cheese plate and as an accompaniment to dishes. It needs to be cut into cubes, not slices. It melts great. For example, onion soup is impossible without Gruyère.

Third Swiss hit?

Raclette! A cheese with a heavy, strong smell, but it has a noble spirit. This is the name of both the cheese and the dish. Like fondue, it is the national gastronomic specialty of Switzerland. It is cooked in a special desktop oven - a raclette oven, a quarter or half a head of cheese is inserted into it, with a cut to the lamp, as the lamp heats up, the cheese melts, and it is scraped directly onto a plate containing potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, meat ... This is very popular a winter dish in Swiss and French ski resorts. By the way, it is traditionally cooked for Christmas.

Everyone is brought from Switzerland Tête de Moine - what do you think, just because of the spectacular presentation or is it so tasty?

Semi-hard cheese, with a bright smell and taste, and with no less bright presentation. Yes, this is one of the few cheeses in the world, which is accompanied by a special rotating knife "Girol", with which the head is cut in the form of chips. Tete de moine- translated from French "head of a monk." Since the twelfth century, monks from a monastery located in the west of the country have been producing this cheese. Now Tete de Moine is produced only in the cantons of Jura, Munster, Kortelary, Bern. It is made from the milk of cows obtained exclusively during the summer months. Tête de Moine" comes in different aging - the more aged, the tastier. By the way, the knife was invented not so long ago in order to cut the cheese as thin as possible. And here a certain skill in cutting is required.

Swiss avant-garde

They were classic Swiss cheeses. How do you surprise your clients?

In my opinion, the most interesting Swiss cheese is Mont Vully, from the canton of Friborg. It is a hard cheese with a rind that is soaked in red wine pomace Pinot Noir. During maturation (4-6 months), it is rubbed several times with sponges soaked in grape pomace. It turns out a crust that you can eat. All cheeses that are rubbed with wine or a damp sponge are called washed rind cheeses. And they usually have a strong smell. Mont Vully naturally makes an excellent gastronomic pair with red wine.

By the way, how does one taste good cheese from ordinary cheese?

From a good cheese, a bouquet opens in your mouth, but as soon as you eat it, the taste begins to subside, an aftertaste sets in. And if there are no taste memories left in your mouth or they quickly disappear, most likely you have tasted mediocre cheese. When tasting, to pause between cheeses and refresh your taste buds, you need to eat a piece of pear.

We keep tasting...

The next cheese Swiss Alps in the grass, it is sprinkled with dry alpine herbs - basil, rosemary, sage ...

This is one of the few Alpine cheeses that are boiled - in a large copper cauldron, in the open air, a fire is made on pine wood, and then the cheese is sent to mature in a cave. In Switzerland, there is a very small production of this cheese - only a few heads a day.

Are there blue cheeses in Switzerland?

Bluchatel is a rare example of a Swiss blue cheese. It has a specific taste, it is a winter, heavy cheese. Usually, blue cheeses have a moldy taste, but here it fades into the background. Bluchatel has a salty taste, many find it too salty. But in a situation where French, Italian, English blue cheeses have come under sanctions, Swiss blue cheese has every chance of becoming famous here.

Is it possible to replace the parmesan that is now missing in our stores with Swiss Sbrinz?

Sbrinz and there is a Swiss analogue of parmesan. It appeared much earlier than parmesan. Traditionally, the Italians traded wine and salt with the Swiss, and the Swiss gave them cheese. The road that crosses the Alps and links Switzerland with Italy is often referred to as " sbrinz path". According to legend, the Italians rolled 40-kilogram heads of cheese along this road - they rolled uphill, sweating and cursing everything in the world. At some point, they got tired of it, and they came up with their own parmigiano. Sbrinz is a hard cheese that is aged for about two years, but during this time it has time to become harder than parmesan. Cutting it is almost impossible, only prick with a special knife. The Swiss add Sbrinz to pasta, risotto and many other dishes, where the Italians put Parmigiano. Sbrinz has a sweeter flavor than salty parmesan. Parmesan is made from skimmed milk, while Sbrinz is made from full fat.

Cheese for girls

Is there in Switzerlandcheeseslow fat?

In Switzerland, there are quite a few low-fat cheeses. 20 percent fat is very little, and 9-10 percent cheeses are nowhere to be found in Europe. Except Switzerland!

And they are not only low-fat, but also tasty, which is generally a rarity. One of them - Chief Savier, it is aged, with a thin crust and a fat content of only 20 percent. Cheese for girls! Its taste is slightly reminiscent of Gruyère. Produced in 60 kg squares. It is believed that the larger the head, the better the cheese will ripen.

Our next conversation with Alexander Krupetskov will be devoted to fondue and the art of making a cheese plate.

One of the most famous sights of this alpine country is the Swiss cheese. In the Swiss Alps, cheese has been an important source of income since ancient times. The tradition of cheese making in Switzerland dates back to the Middle Ages. This is not surprising, because milk products are among the most ancient in the history of human civilization.

There is a written record from about the year 1000 that peasants from the canton of Glarus paid tithes to the monastery of Säckingen (today Germany, Baden-Württemberg) with Schabziger cheese. To this day, this cheese is made exclusively in the canton of Glarus from skimmed cow's milk with the addition of certain herbs, primarily fenugreek, and is one of the few green cheese varieties. The recipe for this cheese was supposedly invented in the 8th century.

Gruyere cheese (Friborg canton) was mentioned in writing in 1115, Emmental and Sbrinz cheeses around 1200. Emmental, aka Emmentaler, takes its name from the Emmental valley in the canton of Bern. Sbrinz is a traditional Swiss cheese with a very firm texture, produced mainly in the cantons of Lucerne, Obwalden and Nidwalden.

Over time, more and more Swiss cheese was sent to. In the 17th century, sbrinz began to be exported to Lugano, Milan and Varese. If the first cheese dairies arose mainly in the Alps, then in the 19th century their number began to increase in the flat part of Switzerland. Gradually, Swiss cheese is becoming known not only throughout Europe, but also beyond its borders. Due to the introduction of agricultural protectionist duties in the early 20th century, problems with the export of cheese arose, which were further exacerbated by the outbreak of the First World War. In the 30s of the 20th century, the Swiss Cheese Union (German: Schweizerische Käseunion) was founded. As a result of the activities of this union, the export of Swiss cheese began to be subsidized by the state.

Cheese production technology has remained unchanged for centuries. Many varieties of Swiss cheese are still produced in small dairies, which are served by only a few people. Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (French) Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) In addition to 'Emmental' 'Gruyère' and 'Sbrinz', this category includes varieties such as 'Vacherin Mont-d'Or', "Formaggio d'Alpe Ticinese", "Tête de Moine", Bernese Alpine cheese (German Berner Alpkäse), "L'Etivaz" and "Raclette du Valais".

In total, more than 450 varieties of cheese are produced in Switzerland. In 2014, Swiss cows gave their owners 3.5 million tons of milk. Approximately half of the milk received was used to make over 185,000 tons of cheese (+1.4% compared to 2013). More than 68,000 tons of Swiss cheese produced were exported (+0.4% compared to 2013). At the same time, exports to Russia more than doubled: 1,200 tons in 2014 compared to 474 tons in 2013. And the most important European consumers of Swiss cheese are Germany (31,000 tons), Italy (10,000 tons) and France (5,500 tons). tons). The most popular cheese varieties remain Emmentaler (14,000 tons) and Gruyère (12,300 tons).

Interesting information was published by the Swiss newspaper "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" in the article "Why holes in cheese disappear" (Warum die Löcher im Käse schwinden) in May 2015. In recent years, cheese makers have come across a fact that has puzzled them: with the same technology, the number and size of holes in some varieties of Swiss cheese began to decrease. This was established by observing the process of maturation of cheese using the method of computed tomography for 130 days. The "culprit" of the disappearing holes turned out to be ... "too" pure milk.

Cheese holes are formed during the ripening process due to the natural fermentation process. Previously, when milk was collected in open containers during milking, microscopic particles of hay also got there. These particles formed a "starting point" for the formation of a gas bubble - a future hole in the cheese. In the same way, a pearl forms around a grain of sand in a sea shell.

Recently, however, closed milking systems have been used to obtain milk. The milk has become "too" pure. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this - both milk and all dairy products remain pure. But the holes in the cheese do not want to form! The solution turned out to be simple: you need to add a small pinch of those very microscopic particles of hay to the milk. This allows you to control the formation of holes in the Swiss cheese.

• Switzerland

5 days / 4 nights

Bern – Zurich

In Switzerland, a huge variety of cheeses are produced: hard, soft, produced in a village cheese factory and at a cheese factory; cheese, cut into thin slices, cubes, flowers; melted cheese, in which slices of bread are dipped or simply served with hot potatoes, etc. Most often, the names of cheeses correspond to one or another geographical name, where they are produced. We invite you to make an unforgettable gastronomic journey and become a connoisseur of Swiss cheeses by tasting the most famous of them.

• Day 1 – 3: Bern

Arrival in Bern. Transfer to the hotel.

• Hotel Bellevue Palace Bern 5*.

Excursions from Bern:

• "Emmental"- Swiss cheese king. It is so famous all over the world that sometimes it is simply called "Swiss cheese". Emmental is famous for its holes, which have become in some way his "calling card". We invite you to the cheese factory of 1741, where cheese is still made according to old technologies. During the tasting, you will taste not only the classic Emmental, but also its different types.
• "Gruyere" the famous Swiss cheese. It has been made from fresh cow's milk in the vicinity of the town of Gruyères since the 12th century. Gruyère has a sweet but slightly salty taste that changes with age. The young cheese is creamy with a nutty flavor, but with age the taste becomes more earthy and complex. You will see this for yourself during a visit to the cheese factory in Gruyères, and you will also get great pleasure from walking through the village of Gruyères and visiting the castle of the same name.
• "Tete de Moine"- the name of the cheese, literally meaning "monk's head", comes from the place of its invention and production - Bellelay Abbey, located in the canton of Bern. The cheese is made from the milk of cows grazing on the fragrant and spicy pastures of the Jura Mountains. Such is the taste of the cheese - fragrant and spicy. This cheese is unusual in its shape and way of tasting. It is eaten in a non-standard way: it must be carefully “scratched” with a knife in order to fully reveal its delicate aroma. We are pleased to invite you to visit one of the smallest cheese factories. You will not only get acquainted with the production, but also try the cheese with such an unusual name. .

• Day 4 – 5: Zurich

Moving to Zurich. Transfer to the hotel.

• Hotel Baur au Lac 5*
• Dolder Grand 5*
• Widder 5*
• Park Hyatt Zurich 5*
• Glockenhof 4*

Tours from Zurich:

The famous cheese of Eastern Switzerland - Appenzeller, originally from the village of Appenzell. The cheese is made from fresh cow's milk and has a fairly strong taste. Moreover, only the milk of local cows grown on pastures between the Kotstanz lakes and the Santis massif is used. During the manufacturing process, the cheese is cleaned with special brushes and soaked in brine from mountain herbs, the recipe of which is kept in the strictest confidence. You will visit a cheese factory where the famous Appenzeller has been produced for more than 700 years.

Cheese Premier Cru

• Emmentaler Switzerland Premier Cru- Cheese aged for at least 14 months in damp cellars. This cheese won the world title in Wisconsin (USA) at the World Cheese Championship in 2006.

• Le Gruyere Premier Cru- Produced and matured only in the canton of Friborg. Aged 14 months in wet caves. It is the only cheese that has won the title of the best cheese in the world at the WORLD CHEESE AWARDS in London three times: in 1992, 2002 and 2005.

Types of Swiss cheeses:

Extra hard

• - Sbrinz
• - Hobelkase

Solid

• - Emmentaler
• - Gruyere/Greyerzer
• - Schabziger

Semi-solid

• - Appenzeller
• - Bundnerbergkäse
• - Mutschli
• - Raclette
• - Tete de moine
• - Vacherin fribourgeois
• - Tilsiter

Semi-soft

• - Vacherin mont d "or

Soft

• - Gala

Interesting Cheese Facts

The famous cheese dish fondue, originally from the Swiss canton of Vaud. It was invented by shepherds who were supposed to make a hot dinner from three products at hand - cheese, bread and wine. For fondue, cheese (Emmental and Gruyere) is melted together with wine and spices in a cast-iron pot, and then slices of bread are dipped into the resulting hot mass, planted on a special long fork with two prongs. Born in the mountain pastures of Switzerland, today fondue has become one of the main treats of European cheese restaurants.

There is a special type of cheese that is produced only in the summer in the Swiss Alps - "fromage d" alpage " (alpine cheese). It is made from the milk of cows grazing in alpine meadows and has a much brighter taste. It is often made in a pot over a fire in some remote chalet in the Alpine meadows, and can be found for sale in the Alpine villages.

The cost of the services of an interpreter, assistant and guide in Zurich, description of excursions in German Switzerland, the cost of transfers from Zurich, a car with a driver available in Zurich, with the cost of services of an interpreter, assistant and guide, with departure from Bern, description of excursions with departure from Bern: on request.

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Switzerland is the birthplace of the most delicious cheese. Swiss cheese has the same impeccable reputation as a Swiss bank and a Swiss watch. If something is produced in this country, then only at the highest level. Such is the mentality.

In turn, among the whole variety of companies producing cheeses, the most famous is the Emmi factory, which supplies the most famous brands of cheeses all over the world, including Russia. Thus, if you want to try the very best product, we recommend that you pay attention to Emmental, Gruyère and Sbrynz cheeses from this brand. About what they are known and famous for, we will talk today.

Emmental

It is the most recognizable Swiss cheese in the world. You can say the product is number one. In fairness, it should be noted that Switzerland missed the opportunity to register this trademark, and therefore Emmental is now also produced in France and Holland. But gourmets know for sure that a real authentic product is made in the Emme Valley (Bern Canton). The rest, as they say, are variations on a theme.

A real emmental is a huge (up to 130 kg) heads with holes-eyes formed during the aging of the cheese. The product has a pleasant sweetish-nutty taste. It is used both separately and as part of hot dishes. In particular, it is impossible to imagine fondue without Emmental. In Switzerland, it is prepared using 2/3 of this cheese and 1/3 of Gruyère.

Gruyere

It is believed that this variety of cheese, if not the oldest in Europe, then certainly one of the oldest. In any case, it is known for certain that it was produced already in the 10th century. And the fact that for all these centuries it has not bothered mankind speaks volumes. Today it is produced in the canton of Friborg, the center of which is the region that gave its name to the cheese. Or vice versa?

Swiss Gruyère uses the best milk from cows grazing on the Alpine slopes. A distinctive feature of Gruyère is the large amount of milk used for it, a long (from 5 to 15 months) aging period and the absence of holes. The cheese has a nutty-fruity, slightly salty taste. It melts beautifully, which is why it is often used to make fondue and hot sandwiches. But in no case should the scope of this product be limited to these dishes. Gruyere is also an extremely worthy decoration and a cheese plate too.

Sbrinz

It is a very hard cheese aged for at least 1.5 years, which is cut using a special tool. The product is so hard that it is not even cut, but crumbled. Surprisingly, at the same time, chewing sbintz is easy and pleasant. This cheese has a strong nut-caramel aroma and a pronounced taste. In Russia, they are mainly decorated with cheese plates, while at home in Switzerland they are used to prepare various dishes: soups, omelettes, pancakes. In cooking, sbrinz is used mainly in grated form.