The Cheeses of Switzerland

Presented to you by:Elise

Ms. Kelly Murphy

Where does the magic happen?

• The ‘real’ Swiss cheese is made in Emmental.

• This is the valley of the Emme River in the Canton of Berne (West Central Switzerland).

• The Swiss have been making their beloved cheese for over 2,000 years!!

• Swiss cows produce 99% of Swiss cheese.• The Swiss are so particular about their cheese

that under law the cows are required to be outside at least 20 days of each month.

• They must get their own food and are never fed silage.

• The farmers lead the cows up to the Alps in the summer. This lets them graze on over 120 herbs instead of the 12 the valley offers.

• The milk from the rich herbal herbs produces a different kind of cheese called Alpine cheese!

Summer Camp for Cows

Alpine Cheese

• Alpine cheese is very healthy because it can lower your blood pressure.

• This tasty cheese has a light yellow color.

• The darker color comes from the herbal diet consumed by the cows from June to October.

Types of Swiss Cheese

• There are over 400 varieties of cheese produced in Switzerland.

• They can be extra-hard, hard, semi-hard, semi-soft and soft cheeses.

• A variety of extra hard cheese is Sbrinz.• Hard chesses of Switzerland are emmental,

Greyerzer, Bern alpine and Sapsago. • Semi-hard include Appunzeller, Mutschli,

Raclette and Tilsiter. • A semi soft cheese is Formaggini and soft is

gala.

Making cheese the old-fashioned way

• The process starts with 200 liters of milk, lactic acid and rennet. It is then left for 30 minutes for the enzymes to begin working. This results in a pudding-like mixture.

• Next, the water is separated from the cheese. 35 minutes of stirring the mix occurs next, over an open fire until the cheese curds are as small as corn kernels.

• Finally, the cheese curds are divided between two wood racks and covered. After 30 more minutes the date and number is marked. The cheese is pressed for 24 hours, and is then aged in the cellar.

• The total process takes 2.5 hours of labor to complete before the cheese is ready to be aged.

4 types of Swiss cheese based on aging

• The four types are Classic, Bio (Organic), Reserve and Höhlengereift or cave-aged.

• Classic cheese and Bio are aged for a minimum of four months in dry cellars.

• Reserve is aged for at least eight months and Höhlengereift is aged for at least 12 months.

Why do we age cheese?• A full, strong texture develops the

longer you let cheese age. The texture changes and becomes harder as the cheese ages longer.

• Classic and bio have smooth textures. Reserve has a crumbly texture and Höhlengereift has a soft, crumbly texture as well.

The Rule of the Holes!• The famous holes of Swiss cheese

are believe it or not highly regulated. • All holes must be between the size of

a 20 cent Swiss coin and the size of a two Swiss Franc coin.

• They must have between 3-5 holes in a tested area.

Nutritional Value• 3.5 ounces of cheese a day can

provide…• 125% of the daily calcium requirements• 80% phosphorous• 33% Vitamin A• 25% Vitamin D

emmental (Swiss cheese) is also high in protein and low in sodium

Baby Swiss• Mainly for the United

states population• It is made by

substituting water for the milk’s whey to slow bacterial action.

• Baby Swiss has smaller holes and a milder flavor.

• It is often made with whole milk.

• There is also lacy Swiss which is made from low fat milk.

THE END!!