Just Say Cheese in Swiss Mountaintop Village

Here, in one of Switzerland’s typically bucolic cantons, the mountain meadows and green hillsides are given over to tawny cows whose tinkling bells and earthy aromas sound and scent the air. Not every visitor or native likes the sound or the smell. But almost everyone is fond of the product: Gruyere cheese.

The cheese takes its name from the dramatic mountaintop village of Gruyeres, which is set within the walls surrounding a 15th-Century castle but is made throughout the canton as well. It, along with Emmentaler and Appenzeller, comprise the trio of the most well-known Swiss cheeses.

If you ask any Fribourgeois (people of the Fribourg canton), they will argue that Gruyere is the best of all Swiss cheeses. They point to its versatility. It can be melted, used in fondue or served cold with the region’s rough mountain bread or as dessert with fruit. Certainly Gruyere is a mouth-filling, satisfying cheese, not a bland cheese for fickle eaters. It’s milder than Appenzeller and more flavorful than Emmentaler.

For many first-time visitors, a Gruyere is a Gruyere. But this is not the case at all. There are marked differences depending on age, point of production and skills of the makers. For instance, concerning age, a young Gruyere has a smooth, creamy taste with sweet notes, while older cheese is grainy in texture with nutty, sharper flavors.

Today, most Gruyere is made in modern fromageries by trained cheese makers. These places look like laboratories and turn out a consistent product. A small amount of Gruyere is made in the high mountain huts using the old methods. It’s called alpage, meaning mountain meadow. It has the most varied character and is thought to be the finest. The flavors of alpage Gruyeres vary according to the weather, vegetation of the pastures and the maker’s personal techniques. These Gruyeres are very special and somewhat rare. As one would expect, they cost more than the fromagerie variety, but are worth the higher price.

Actually, everywhere Gruyere is made there is a substantial range of quality. The simplest way to assess quality is by the amount of salt. An overly salty Gruyere is of low quality. The maker has over-salted in order to speed up the aging process and rush the cheese to market. Fine Gruyere is judged much like wine: It must have finesse, many dimensions and a pleasant, lingering taste.

Certainly the most demanding critics of Gruyere are the people who live in the mountain villages of Fribourg, where the cheese is made. Having been reared on a Gruyere diet, they know the great from the merely good, and will gladly describe for you the differences. There are nearly 50 of these villages where cheese makers produce Gruyere.

In the village of Giffers, set upon a hill south of Fribourg, lives the Habere family, typical Gruyere adherents and upholders of the regional kitchen. In this household the cheese is eaten every day. At breakfast it might be melted on the rough mountain bread and at lunch a slice might be matched with some sausage or an apple. At dinner the cheese is often an ingredient in a potato or zucchini gratin made to accompany a veal roast.

Says Barbara Habere (they are German speakers in this mixed German/French canton): “We used to have one of the finest cheese makers here in the village, but he retired. We have a new man. He is good, but not as good as the old fellow, even though he was trained in school and worked under the old cheese maker for six months.”

The difference is something of a perplexity to the villagers. However, the Haberle son, Rainer, has an explanation. “To make really fine Gruyere is an art. You must have a special feel for the milk and the cheese. The old man had the feel; the new one has the training, but not the feel. We hope the feel will come.”

Gruyere is the main constituent in fondue, typically mixed with Appenzeller and Emmentaler. But in the Fribourg villages, people usually compose their fondue with Gruyere alone.

Making fine fondue is also an art.

“You absolutely must make fondue several times a month to know what you’re doing,” says Rainer Haberle. “It requires great skill to make sure the fondue isn’t too thin or too sticky. The quality and amount of the Gruyere will control this. We only make fondue four or five times a year, so we are not particularly good with this and it shows in our variable results.”

Visitors may watch the cheese being made in a modern creamery set at the base of the village of Gruyeres. You can follow the process through plate-glass windows, something like a surgical amphitheater. Descriptions are in French, German, Italian and English. You can also buy cheese there.

Perhaps the best place to purchase Gruyere is in Bulle, the canton’s second largest town, at Fromagerie G. Dougard. There are usually six to a dozen different types of Gruyere offered, including several alpages of different ages. The sales people are knowledgeable and patient with customers’ questions. They say that Dougard supplies the Parisian restaurant Taillevent with its Gruyere. The address is Bulle, Rue de Vevey 9, telephone locally 27187.

The village of Gruyeres is an eagle aerie with a 360-degree panorama of saw-toothed peaks and verdant valleys. With such a view, Gruyeres is probably the prettiest base camp for anyone wanting to learn about the cheese and to explore the not overly visited Fribourg canton.

You can stay in several different hotels in Gruyeres. There is the reasonable Hostellerie St. Georges, 1663, Gruyeres-FR Switzerland, which is simple and cheery; from the United States call 011-41-29-62246 ($100 a night for two). And there is the more deluxe Hostellerie de Chevaliers, 1663, Gruyeres-FR Switzerland, a special treat; 011-41-29-61933 ($120 a night for two).

The food at the Hostellerie de Chevaliers is also a treat. The owner/cook, Georges Bouchery-Rime, is a disciple of Switzerland’s most famous chef, Fredy Girardet. As such he presents a light cuisine accented with wild ingredients: mushrooms, fish and game from the local mountains and brooks.

By necessity these wild ingredients vary with the season. But the Gruyere cheese remains constant year-round.

To taste the cheese in fondue, Le Chalet in Gruyeres is a good place to stop. Here you will be given a steaming bowl of fondue laced with a dash of kirsch, along with a platter of bread, cornichons, new potatoes and small onions. Take a long-stemmed fork and have at it. You will see why Gruyere is so admired.