Swiss Alps Cheesemaking

Keywords:	Traditional ¦ Switzerland ¦ Behind the scenes ¦ 360° panorama ¦ Cheesemaking ¦ Slow Food ¦ Valais/Wallis (Swiss canton)
Translations:	Italiano    Español
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Can you climb a mountain with your photo gear?, asked Joseph Werlen. I said I could. Anything for proper cheese. Well then, leave the car at the bottom of the Nüffenen/Novena path and walk up in the Lengtal until you reach the place they call Vorderdistel. They make the cheese in the second hut. But take your time - it's a steep climb.

I slept in Münster, near the source of the Rhone river and on August 1st, Swiss National Day, I woke up at 5 AM to drive to the bottom of the Nueffenen path, the bit of mountain that connects my birth canton of Valais to Italian-speaking Ticino. I briefly stopped to knock on Münster's baker back door to buy a dozen croissant to bring to the cheesemakers. When the road stopped I took my 40 pounds of photo gear on my back and set out to walk. The Lengtal ('long valley') is very flat at first, but it starts to become steeper and steeper as you climb towards the former glacier. The border with Piemonte, Italy, is just over the ridge.

There is no real path. A few stones indicate that you are on the way, with the special sign they use to indicate the sort of treck that tourist offices call 'For confirmed mountaineers only'. As it becomes steeper and steeper, I start to wonder what sort of mountaineer I am. As I draw closer, the 'path' is so narrow you can barely put one shoe in it. Better not look sideways as eternity is grinning from below. All I had was three place names Lengtalkeller in Vorderdistel, Lengtal with some vague directions given in German over the phone. I continued.

I finally reached the chalet, more dead than alive

Christian welcomed me. If you met him on the street you'd think he was on his way to a rock festival. But no, these guys work for a solid 90 days up there on the Alp, come rain, come sun. That's more than a submariner. Christian is from Bavaria. I gave him the croissant. Very friendly guy and such a smile. But life up there must not be all fun. The cheesemakers are shacked up 7 in a single room in spartan accommodationfor 90 days. They were joined by one of the shepherds' sons who came up from Luzern for 2 weeks of fresh air and hard work.

As I entered the stone hut next to the milking station, Jenny was busy turning over the curds. She had woken up at 5h00 to place 800 liters / 200 gallons of milk in a large copper cauldron with a bit of yogurt-like starter culture to start lactic fermentation. After a couple hours, she added the rennet to curdle the casein in the milk. Satisfied with the curdling, she used two large scoops to turn over the curds.

See a static partial panorama of inside the cheesemaking chalet.

Using a giant tranche-caillé or guitar, Jenny cuts the curds into tiny grains.

She inspects her grains constantly until they are the size of a grain of wheat.

Jenny reaches for the axe and I reach for cover - an attack of cabin fever, no doubt. But no, she swiftly chops down some wood and starts a fire. There is no electricity, no running water and no sewers up there. The wood had been brought in by helicopter a season ago, and all the cheese is made on the wood fire.

She places a giant lawn mower on top the caldron and attaches the strings to a car battery. The blades start to slowly mix the curds as they heat up.

While the curds cook, Jenny rushes out to quickly wash her cheese forms in the cows' water trough. I quickly follow her when the open hearth fills the chalet with smoke. Cheesemakers are obsessive about cleanliness or they change profession quickly. If you tolerate any kind of impurity, bacteria or hair to fall into the cheese, it will show as a nasty green or black scar within days.

FX, can you close the door, please?, she asks. As the door closes, I can barely see my feet. Fortunately a couple off-camera flashes to help me show you how the cheese is made.

A quick temperature check and Jenny removes the mixer. A hand in the cheese to see if it's really ready ...

... and she dives in like a bird of prey with a huge cheesecloth held between her teeth.

The young cheesemaker pulls up a huge sack of curds...

...and she rushes to the table while the hot whey pours out on the century-old stone slabs.

She places the cheesecloth full of curds inside one of the wooden forms and presses for more whey to come out...

... then covers it with a stone.

As the curds run out, Jenny works on the cheeses she made the day before. She swiftly removes the stones, then the wooden circles ...

... and unwraps the cheesecloth. Much whey has escaped and the casein has bonded again - the cheese is still soft but holds together...

... and can be removed from the form.

What happens next? The fresh cheeses are carried to a tiny stone hut (above) to start the salting and maturing process.

As I draw near, I notice a pattern on the wooden door. It has been carved 40 years ago by the shepherds who lived up there in Vorderdistel. «German Lagger» are the first and last names of the head sepherd, formerly from Münster, now deceased. Nothing sinister here. Mr «Z'Hirt» was his helper.

Don't miss the 360° panorama of inside the maturing hut (Macromedia Flash, 2Mb). You'll see the salt bath where the cheese spend their first night on earth, then the wooden slabs where their wait for their daily rubbing. This will go on for a whole year although some people already eat the cheese 2 months after it's been made. During 90 days Christian and his crew produce nearly 1000 such cheeses from their 51 cows, and space soon runs out. Joseph, the farmer, comes up regularly to haul down as many cheeses as he can carry and stores them in a cellar down in the valley. When you drive through the Alps you'll see dozens of these places where you can buy such cheeses. Just stop when you see a sign - you won't be disappointed.

I'll show you the matured cheese next year.

The secret of these high alpine pasture cheeses incredibly complex taste is in the grass. Each plant contributes toward the final tastes. If your cows change pasture, you can taste the change in the milk. It is not mystery - milk is made from water and grass.

The herd is 51 cows strong, owned by 4 farmers in Münster. Most are the Swiss Bronfi cow and 3 are the famed Evolène fighting cow. They come up for 90 days in late June and visit 4 different pastures/chalet as they exhaust the grass. The rest of the year the cows are down in the village. The cowboys don't come down at all - it's a full time 7-days-a-week job. One farmer brings the food up by foot once a week. In 90 days they produce about 1000 big cheeses. The cheeses are sold privately starting in September.

Thanks to Jenny, Christian & the other cowboys up there in Vorderdistel for their warm welcome, to Joseph Werlen and Herr Imoberdorf for helping me plan this and of course to Johannes for his invaluable help on lighting.