From velvety Vacherin to Cold Dog Autor(en): Farmer, Colin Objekttyp: Article Zeitschrift: The Swiss observer : the journal of the Federation of Swiss Societies in the UK Band (Jahr): - (1981) Heft 1776 PDF erstellt am: 29.09.2021 Persistenter Link: http://doi.org/10.5169/seals-687532 Nutzungsbedingungen Die ETH-Bibliothek ist Anbieterin der digitalisierten Zeitschriften. Sie besitzt keine Urheberrechte an den Inhalten der Zeitschriften. Die Rechte liegen in der Regel bei den Herausgebern. Die auf der Plattform e-periodica veröffentlichten Dokumente stehen für nicht-kommerzielle Zwecke in Lehre und Forschung sowie für die private Nutzung frei zur Verfügung. Einzelne Dateien oder Ausdrucke aus diesem Angebot können zusammen mit diesen Nutzungsbedingungen und den korrekten Herkunftsbezeichnungen weitergegeben werden. Das Veröffentlichen von Bildern in Print- und Online-Publikationen ist nur mit vorheriger Genehmigung der Rechteinhaber erlaubt. Die systematische Speicherung von Teilen des elektronischen Angebots auf anderen Servern bedarf ebenfalls des schriftlichen Einverständnisses der Rechteinhaber. Haftungsausschluss Alle Angaben erfolgen ohne Gewähr für Vollständigkeit oder Richtigkeit. Es wird keine Haftung übernommen für Schäden durch die Verwendung von Informationen aus diesem Online-Angebot oder durch das Fehlen von Informationen. Dies gilt auch für Inhalte Dritter, die über dieses Angebot zugänglich sind. Ein Dienst der ETH-Bibliothek ETH Zürich, Rämistrasse 101, 8092 Zürich, Schweiz, www.library.ethz.ch http://www.e-periodica.ch Switzerland ANY tourist in Switzerland who asks simply for"Swiss cheese" is simply asking for trouble. The problem is that most foreign visitors to this country know only one type of Swiss cheese- the famous Emmental - "the cheese with the big holes in it." But there are in fact more than 100 mouthwatering var- ieties, ranging from appetizing Appenzell to velvety Vacherin. Should one select a Sbrinz, try a Tilsit or go for a Gruyère? So vast is the selection that the cheese trolley at some restaur- ants in Switzerland almost resembles the entire cheese counter at food stores in Britain. Not surprisingly, the insatiable appetite of the Swiss for cheese - not to mention the many other fine foods produced by this country - has led to the inevitable problems of over- weight. As humourist George Mikes observed when he wrote in his best-selling Switzerland /or Beginners: "Quite a few Swiss are worried about their obesity and devote much ingenuity to finding reasons for it. They will give you a great many scientific answers, but only a few of them will hit on the unscientific explanation - that they eat too Cheese-mafc/ng ancient and modern a dairy/armer in the much." Toggenburg contrasts sharply with the Swiss cheese dairy be/ow Emmental, undisputed King the small country with great cheeses highly-prized product for cen- From because of its velvety turies, not only taste but also for its high nutritional value. For example, 100 grammes or 3.5 ounces of Emmental (shop price about Sfr 1.50) provides the following percen- Vacherin tages of an adult's daily requirements: Calcium 100 per cent phosphorous (ideal combination for teeth and bone structure) 50 per cent, protein 40 per cent, vitamin A 33 per cent vitamin D Cold 30 cent, milk fat (for energy) to Dog. per 30 per cent. If you'd like to know more the Swiss Cheese Union, 3001 of the Cheeses, is Switzerland's of school attendance per week, Sbrinz, the "big three" of the Berne, Switzerland, will send most important agricultural lasts three years. Swiss cheese industry. Emmen- you free a colourful kit of export. More than half the A further four years of tal is easily the top-selling English-language documentation Emmental production is sent practical experience in a dairy as cheese, but by no means the one on how Swiss cheese is abroad — mainly to North an assistant must then be that has been established and manufactured, how to distinguish America and Europe - and is followed by another year in a eaten the longest. it from inferior imitations and sold in more than 100 countries. dairy school before a cheese- Whereas Emmental has been even how to tell one Swiss Emmental cheese comes from maker can get his master exported for only a mere 200 cheese from another. the beautiful Emme Valley, diploma. years or so, Gruyère has been The literature also includes nestled amid rolling hills and Cheesemaking reduces 12 sold abroad for at least 500 recommended recipes for fam- lush green pastures not far from volumes of milk to about one years while Sbrinz has been ous cheese dishes such as the Swiss capital, Berne. volume of cheese. Every year going steady in one form or Fondue and Raclette and When the industry was this country's dairies process 1.5 other for up to 2,000 years. reveals the secrets of lesser- established there some 200 million tons of quality Swiss milk When the Roman writer known specialities like Sbrinz years ago, local cheesemakers - a third of the entire national Columella, an eminent authority Super Sauce and Swiss Cold would compete with each other production - churning and on agriculture, wrote of the Dog. to produce the largest cheese. turning it into some 110,000 "Caseus helvetica" he is believed Perhaps next time you visit Some, it is said, even weighed tons of the choicest cheese. to have been referring to an Switzerland you'll even know up to 300 pounds. Of this total about 75 percent early type of Sbrinz. Appenzell from Emmental. These days the emphasis is on is Emmental, Gruyère and Quality cheese has been a Colin Farmer quality rather than quantity, and the weight per wheel of cheese is down to a mere 170 pounds or so. Even so, a single Emmental still requires the average daily milk yield of some 80 cows, spread over four or five medium-sized farms. The secret of Switzerland's internationally-acclaimed sue- cess in producing superior quality cheeses lies largely in its traditional methods of manufac- ture. Instead of mass production the industry relies on a nationwide network of some 1,500 village dairies where - despite the progress of science and technology- cheesemaking still remains a proud and painstaking centuries-old skill, passed down from generation to generation. It takes no less than eight years of intensive apprentice- ship and professional training for a young man to become a master cheesemaker. The ap- prenticeship alone, with one day Cheese-makers make their daily rounds in the storage ce//ars to check the /oaves 5.