What actually makes Appenzeller® cheese unique? Is it the idyllic mountains, in which Appenzeller® cheese has been produced for more than 700 years? The traditional recipe and handicraft used by about 50 village cheese dairies? The secret herbal brine, with which it is treated? Or the culture, in which it is embedded? These are the questions asked and answered on the Appenzeller Cheese Tour. Personally, I love this cheese and I hope you will as well.
Appenzellerland stretches from Alpstein to Lake Constance. When the first people settled in Appenzell 30,000 years ago, the hills and valleys were still covered with thick forests. For the most part, the land skirts through the foothills of the Alps making it wet, exposed and difficult to farm. Starting in the 700s land began to be cleared for settlements and livestock. It took another 500 years until Appenzeller® cheese was first mentioned in 1282: ‘The monastery of St. Gallen allowed one-tenth of the Appenzeller farmers to pay in cheese.’ Generally, this early cheese was lower in fat and saltier.
In Switzerland there is about one cow for every five inhabitants. Each of the 1.5 million cows are registered with a name and number. Popular names are Bella, Nora, Fiona and Nina. The calf is then branded with the number. Once in the fields, the cows learn their herd’s bells and farmer’s sounds of whistles and yodels.
The Appenzeller Cheese Cellar
The young Appenzeller® wheels of cheese are stored in the cheese cellar at 14–15° and with a relative humidity of 93% for natural fermenting and maturing. Up to 12,500 wheels of cheese are stored on the spruce boards.
Primary maturing takes place for 3–4 weeks, namely the maturing occurs from the inside to the outside. The wheels of cheese are washed with slightly salted water and turned every day during the first 10 days, then later 2–3 times per week. The rind is finally formed because the cheese has been rubbed with the salt water, which encourages the cheese to mature from the inside to the outside. The cheese rind is the protective layer for the cheese.
After 4–5 weeks the wheels of cheese are passed on to the cheese merchants, who regularly smear the secret herbal brine over the cheese. Depending on the type, it matures there for between 3 and 9 months. Storing the cheese makes it increasingly spicy.
Brine spices include: Ginger root (seasonal), Lemon balm, Marjoram, Lovage, Orange thyme, Mandarin orange mint (seasonal), Pineapple mint (seasonal), Fruit sage (seasonal), and Oregano.
For 700 years the strictly kept secret of the herbal brine has given Appenzeller® cheese its unique herbal taste. A wheel of cheese takes three to nine months to mature. During this period it is continually cured and nourished with the herbal brine. The longer a wheel of cheese matures, the spicier its taste becomes. The recipe for the herbal brine has remained unchanged for 30 years and is kept securely in a bank safe. Only two carefully selected master cheese craftsmen know it. They are responsible for producing the herbal brine and ensure that Appenzeller® cheese remains unique.
Number of cattle & milk production
- There are over 264 million dairy cows throughout the world.
- About 583,000 of them live in Switzerland.
- They produce four million tonnes of milk per annum – for direct consumption or for processing into cream, cheese, butter, yoghurt or fresh products.
- The Appenzeller production area supplies 90,000 tonnes of milk, which is used to make Appenzeller® cheese.
- This volume corresponds to 90 million one-litre packs of milk. If one were to put these packs end to end, they would stretch from here to Japan and back.
– – 1 tonne (metric ton) is 1000 kg. 1 US ton = 907.2 kg; therefore its basically 100 mil tons of mile (99.2mil).
- A cow in the Appenzeller® production area will produce 7,297 kg of milk in a year under particularly animal-friendly conditions.
- Compared with neighbouring countries, the cows from the Appenzeller® production area are therefore among the front-runners.
- Information on milk output per cow per year.
- Appenzeller® production area: 7,297 kg
- Germany: 7,293 kg
- France: 6,414 kg
- Italy: 5,175 kg
- EU: 5,601 kg
- USA: 9,902 kg
Cheese-making
- Worldwide the USA, Germany, France and Italy produce the most cheese.
- Information in tonnes per annum.
- USA: 5,398,000 t
- Germany: 2,220,000 t
- France: 1,901,000 t
- Italy: 1,227,000 t
- Although Switzerland produces far less cheese in terms of quantity…
- Switzerland: 188,800 t
- … if one looks at the volume produced with regard to the area of land used, then Switzerland is shown to be extremely productive.
- Information in tonnes per km2.
- USA: 0.5 t
- Germany: 6.2 t
- France: 2.9 t
- Italy: 4.1 t
- Switzerland: 4.6 t
- With production of about 9,100 tonnes of cheese per year, Appenzeller® is one of the most important semi-hard cheese producers in Switzerland.
- Furthermore: Over half of the Appenzeller® cheese produced will be sent abroad. The Germans eat the most of our cheese – France is behind them with a bit of a gap.
Consumption
- In Switzerland every person eats an average of 410 grams of cheese per week.
- This totals 21.5 kg/year, making the Swiss great cheese lovers.
- Information in kg per person/year.
- EU: 17.9
- France: 26.7
- Italy: 20.1
- Switzerland: 21.5
- Germany: 24.6
- USA: 15.5
- In addition to Emmentaler, Raclette, Gruyère and Mozzarella, Appenzeller® cheese is one of the most popular types of cheese in Switzerland.
- The most popular type is Appenzeller® Strongly spicy. However, Appenzeller® Mildly spicy is also much-appreciated.