Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/769179
cheese focus SWISS CHEESES TO KNOW Berggenuss: 9-pound brine-washed wheel from thermised cow's milk; aromas of aged beef, walnuts, and garlic; spicy yet mellow; single producer. Challerhocker: 14-pound brine-washed wheel from thermised cow's milk; aged 10 months; aromas of roasted peanuts and caramel; silky and dense; single producer. L'Etivaz AOP: large wheel (up to 80 pounds) from raw cow's milk; dense, smooth, and concentrated, with the buttery flavor of Brazil nuts; multiple producers. Gruyère 1655: classic raw cow's milk wheel but from a single small cheesemaker selected by the affineur. Heublumen: Appenzeller-style wheel from organic raw cow's milk; matured for four months; aromas of grass, buttered biscuits, and toasted almonds; single producer. Holzhofer: 9-pound wheel from raw cow's milk; aged about 8 months; firm and piquant; single producer. Hornbacher: 11-pound wheel from raw cow's milk; aged about one year; aromas of brown butter and baked potato skin; single producer. Jersey Blue: 4-pound domed wheel from raw cow's milk; rustic, rippled natural rind; blue veins develop without piercing; buttery paste with aromas of mushroom and bacon; single producer. Moser Screamer: rare triple-cream style from cow's milk; about 5.5 ounces; aromas of mushroom and crème fraiche; texture of whipped butter; single producer. Petit Vaccarinus: Vacherin Mont d'Or style; 12-ounce disk with a fir-bark band; runny interior with aromas of forest floor, damp wood, mushroom, and peanut; single producer. Red Witch: 14-pound wheel from raw cow's milk; brine- washed and coated with paprika; matured six to eight months; aromas of peanuts, toasted hazelnuts, bacon, and brown butter; single producer. Sbrinz Alpage: 70-pound wheel from raw cow's milk; alpage version of a classic cheese; aged 36 months; brittle and granular; multiple producers. Scharfe Maxx: 15-pound wheel from thermised cow's milk with cream added; semifirm, dense and fudgy with aromas of aged beef, fried onions, and peanut butter; aged five to seven months; single producer. Schnebelhorn: 15-pound wheel from raw cow's milk with cream added; aged eight to nine months; spicy and buttery flavor; single producer. In its wake, cheesemakers have unleashed their competitive spirit. "They have realized that they have to come up with ideas, high-quality cheeses, to stand out from the others," Hostettler says. Even creameries under contract to produce AOP cheeses like Gruyère and Appenzeller—dependable income, no risk—are play- ing with new recipes. "There's probably not one dairy that doesn't produce a little bit of some other cheese," she adds. Gourmino, a Swiss producer cooperative, emerged from the ashes of the SCU and illustrates the new mindset. A joint enter- prise of 13 cheesemakers who produce primarily Emmentaler and Gruyère, the company recently introduced Hornbacher, a well-aged and hugely aromatic 11-pound wheel from raw cow's milk. "There's an abundance of milk, and the Swiss need to find ways to use it all," says Joe Salonia, national sales manager for Gourmino. In the SCU days, excess milk went into Sbrinz or Emmentaler, and the government made up the shortfall between the export price and the cost of production. With the subsidies gone, creameries are motivated to innovate. Columbia Cheese, the New York-based importer and dis- tributor, has also helped showcase some of these novel Swiss cheeses. Challerhocker, L'Etivaz, the hay-coated Heublumen, and washed- rind Schnebelhorn are among its successes. There's a strong interest in alpkäse, wheels made at alpine chalets in summer from the milk of cows dining on mountain grasses. Alpkäse 52 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com