Why Gruyère Is The Most Popular Swiss Cheese | Regional Eats

[Music] when you think of Swiss cheese you think of holes right but Emmentaler isn't actually the most popular cheese in Switzerland Korea is the most produced and most consumed cheese in the country we're here to see how it's made and find out why it's the main component of a Swiss fondue we're actually in a town of Korea which is in the french-speaking region of Freiburg near Geneva Freiburg is one of the five areas including Bern sharor fold and neuchâtel that make up the courier a opie production zone creer has a long heritage records of cheese making go back to the 12th century in this region legend has it that in the year 161 the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius died after eating too much crea today 30 thousand tons of Gruyere have produced here each year the maison de creer is responsible for 520 tons of that in 2018 over 15,000 tons of grier was sold in switzerland making it the most consumed cheese in the country ahead of mozzarella and Emmentaler creer was granted AOP protection from the EU in 2001 meaning that these areas of protected designation of origin but there are a few qualifications for this it must be made using traditional know how it must be aged to a minimum of 5 months and it must be made using raw milk from natural fat cows from dairies no more than 20 kilometers away milk is supplied twice a day a fat containing 4,800 liters of unpasteurized milk is used to produce 12 wheels of grier AOP at 48 wheels are produced daily the cheesemaker add starter cultures made from way to mature the milk rennet is also added to curdled milk this sets the milk into a junket after 40 minutes knives called cheese hearts are used to cut the curd the bat have gradually heated up to 57 degrees Celsius until the curds are the size of wheat grains the cheese maker must check the texture and size of these carefully the contents of a VAT are then pumped out onto molds and the way is drained away each wheel is then pressed for 24 hours the following day each wheel is dipped in a concentrated salt bath for 24 hours after it is taken to the cellars where it is constantly turned and the rind is washed the cheese is stored at around 15 degrees Celsius the cheese also has to be kept on wooden shelves a cellar like this houses around 7,000 wheels of cheese creer is aged here for five months at which point it's ready to eat for a sharper taste it can be aged up to 16 months gonna give them a try and see what I can tell the difference between the different ages first one I'm going to try is he 6-month aged Gruyere the rich kind of nuttiness hasn't come through as much yet it's still quite a mild cheese at this stage now see 8 months 8 gram well there's such a difference in flavor between the two of them those are the texture of it you can be a slightly more grainy and a much richer flavor to this one I know this is gonna be the strongest flavor because it's longer stage so all three of these go into making a fondue which we're gonna try we couldn't come here without trying fondue watching what you also called fondue Suisse in many Swiss regions create cheese is the most popular ingredient in fondue another important component for a great fondue here is the Vacheron and what it does is it gives it a consistency so it's not just Korea that goes into an amazing fun to you it's so rich and so creamy you can definitely taste a bit of punch from the more mature flavors of cheese in there it's just the absolute real deal there's the best one I've ever had on top of fondue you can find Korea in French onion soup cook one sear cordon bleu quiche the list goes on it's a first hole and popular cheese for cooking because it has a taste that's distinct but not overpowering a we love Greer it's between 55 and 65 centimeters in diameter and weighs between 25 and 40 kilograms have you noticed the writing on the side of the rind Liguria AOP is inscribed on every authentic wheel each wheel must have a case in mark and the number of the cheese factory they must also have a date of production on it you might be thinking wait why does this Swiss cheese have holes in it the French variety of Korea is required to have holes and receives IGP protection in Switzerland Korea receives AOP protection and it's a smooth texture earth Korea is such a popular cheese how does the Maison de creer protect itself against copycat products creates a well known name so and it's a quality product and as like watch for example you make fake here and we find some fake we're on the market and we can find who is the producer of this bakery we attack him the name Korea is protected around the world in Switzerland Russia Europe South Africa and the USA [Music] you

Channel: Insider Food

Views: 2,137,743

Keywords: UK Original Video, cheese, food, INSIDER, regional eats, europe, swiss cheese, FOOD INSIDER, switzerland

Id: BU7ASp5TIGo

Length: 6min 45sec (405 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 20 2019