Most cheese in Switzerland is made from cow's milk. Swiss cows graze on fresh grass in the summer and are fed hay during the winter months. The milk has to reach the cheese dairy within 18 hours of milking and be processed no longer than 24 hours after milking. The production of goat's and sheep's cheese is low at less than 1% but is increasing somewhat as these tend to be easier to digest.

All about the holes

Despite what you may think, most Swiss cheeses do not have holes! The cheese often described abroad as 'Swiss cheese' is in fact Emmental. The holes come about as a result of tiny hay particles in the milk which – as the cheese matures – are transformed by bacteria into carbon dioxide bubbles. This process is also what creates the distinct flavour of Emmental. 

Many Swiss traditions have their origins in cows and cheesemaking. For example, when the cows are led up to the Alpine pastures for the summer, this is celebrated as a festive event in many regions. The cows are often decorated with flowers for the occasion. 

Summer in the Alps

The summering of cows is an old Alpine tradition. Herdsmen and women spend the summer looking after different farmers' cows in the mountains. They drive them to the pastures, milk them twice a day and make cheese out of the milk. At the end of September they lead the cows back down to the valley.

Working in the mountain pastures is a tough job and poorly paid. For four entire months the herdsmen and women work around 14 hours a day, with no weekends or days off. Despite the hard work and low pay, for some city people, spending the summer outdoors in the clear mountain air, away from the hustle and bustle of city life, is a dream come true. 

Music of the Alps

Everyone has heard of yodelling, the music generally associated with life in the Alps. Another Alpine custom is the singing of traditional melodies known as Kuhreihen or ranz des vaches, which herdsmen and women would sing while rounding up the cows. The best known of these is from the Gruyère region – a stirring, nostalgic tune that is almost like an unofficial national anthem in French-speaking Switzerland. In fact, in days gone by, Swiss mercenaries were forbidden to sing this tune for fear that they would desert out of homesickness. 

Heat the milk, stir, press, turn, bathe in brine and... wait. Cheesemaking is a refined art, and each stage in the process affects the taste of the final cheese. It starts with the grass the cows eat and ends with the way the cheese is served. 

Most Swiss cheese is made from unpasteurised milk, so it has to be processed rapidly. During the summer months, when the cows are grazing in the Alps, the herdsmen and women make delicious Alpine cheese directly on site.

Ten litres of milk for one kilo of cheese

The raw milk is heated in a large copper vat, known as a Chäs-Chessi in Swiss German, and stirred continuously while lactic acid bacteria and rennet – an enzyme obtained from a cow's stomach lining – are added. This makes a gelatinous substance which is then cut into chunks and stirred with a curd cutter known as a 'cheese harp'. This process is repeated several times, after which the chunks of cheese are placed in a mould specific to the type of cheese, pressed into the desired shape and later placed in a brine bath, according to the cheesemaker's own personal recipe. 

Maturation

The cheese is then moved to a maturing cellar where it is stored at a constant temperature and high humidity for a few weeks or even years. During this time it is regularly rubbed and turned.  

'Swiss cheese' was first mentioned in the first century AD by the Roman historian Pliny the Elder, who talked about Caseus Helveticus, the cheese of the Helvetii, who were the tribe occupying the area of modern-day Switzerland at the time.

From cottage cheese to hard cheese

For centuries most of the cheese produced was cottage cheese. It was made from sour milk and did not keep for long. From the 15th century onwards, rennet – an enzyme from a cow's stomach lining – began to be used north of the Alps to make hard cheese. Hard cheese kept for much longer and was therefore useful when travelling. Monks who ran hostels on some mountain passes used to store huge quantities of cheese for travellers and pilgrims. This was a necessity as they were often snowed in for months on end. In 1800 Napoleon Bonaparte and his 40,000 troops crossed the Great St Bernard Pass, consuming a tonne and a half of the monks' cheese along the way! 

Swiss cheese and cheesemakers around the world

Once cheese had a longer shelf life, it became an important trading commodity for Switzerland. Swiss cheese has been sold throughout Europe since at least the 18th century. But it wasn't only the cheese that left Switzerland: among the thousands of Swiss who emigrated to the United States in the 19th century, quite a few cheesemakers also packed up their vats.