Quick and Easy Meal Options

Blue Cheese from Switzerland

Say Swiss cheese and minds leap to hard cheese like Gruyère, or holey Emmental. Blue cheese is not usually associated with Switzerland although it is produced, enough of it in fact to warrant a category (‘’Blauschimmelkäse’’) at the biennial Swiss Cheese Awards.

Even so, with mouthful names like ‘’KrümmenswilerBlaukäse‘’ (from German-speaking Toggenburg in canton Appenzell), or ‘’BlauesWunder‘’ (the ‘’blue miracle’’ from Detligen in Bern), it seems safe to say that these artisanal blues, produced in small quantities, aren’t slated for household word status any time soon.

Which doesn’t mean, on the contrary in fact, that they aren’t worth seeking out. A good place to start is with ‘’Bleuchâtel,‘’ which rhymes with Neuchâtel (the French-speaking canton where the cheese is made). It’s not only easy to pronounce, it’s also available outside of Switzerland – at Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and other locations. You may encounter them in US restaurants served on beautiful ebony slateplates, which gain more and more popularity on the East Coast.

Didier Germain and Fromagerie Les Martel

In a telephone interview, maître-fromager (master cheese maker) Didier Germain said that he started to make his fromage bleu in 2000 not only because it was a bit of a change from the routine of producing Gruyère, but also to increase the richness of what young cheese makers learned as they completed their apprenticeships with him at his cheese making facility.

The facility Germain owns, the Fromagerie Les Martel at the eponymous location in canton Neuchâtel, produces Gruyère AOC in an impressive installation to which dairy farmers deliver some 3 million kilos of milk annually that are then converted into 6,000 wheels (240 tons!) of Gruyère AOC.

The facility is a ‘’show dairy’’ for Gruyère, which means that visitors can come and watch Gruyère AOC being made (scroll down for more information).

In Switzerland, the label ''AOC'' is granted by the federal government to products made according to carefully monitored traditional methods within a defined geographical area.

About Bleuchâtel

Some blue cheese is quite crumbly, but not this one; it has a nicely integrated, even somewhat creamy, body with the pungent veins of blue mold offering good contrast both texturally and