Real Swiss cheese

If you asked the proverbial man in the street which countries make the best cheese I’m sure Switzerland would be in their top three which makes it ironic that, Gruyère apart, we get hardly any Swiss cheese of note in the UK.

So it’s good to find a food writer colleague of mine Sue Style has written a really excellent book on the lesser known artisanal Swiss cheeses, called Cheese: Slices of Swiss Culture. It’s charmingly illustrated with old prints and paintings and covered with a edelweiss-patterned material which is apparently used for the shirts that are worn by cheesemakers, country music players and, er ... wrestlers.

We tasted three of the cheeses she writes about at a food writers’ get together before Christmas and they were totally delicious, particularly the gooey Vacherin-like Bergfichte from Willi Schmid of Lichtensteig. The others were an 18 month old Gruyère Surchoix and a Mont Vully Classique, a semi-hard Appenzeller-like cheese from the Fribourg canton

The book is thorough but never dry, explaining exactly how each cheese is made, how it tastes and the story of the producer she has chosen to represent it. What’s fascinating is how the French, German and Italian influences in the country all make their way into the cheeses. There are also details of tourist trails such as the Chemin du Gruyère and the Sbrinz route which runs through the mountains south of Lucerne.

Sue is also an accomplished cookery writer and there’s a short but appealing selection of recipes at the end of the book including a wicked-looking cheese pudding called Ramequin, a cauliflower and broccoli cheese with walnut crumble, cheese pasties with bacon and potatoes and - best of all, I suspect - a double decker ‘rosti’ sandwich filled with melted cheese which looks well worth abandoning the new year diet (what diet?) for.

You can buy Swiss cheese, as I’ve mentioned before, from KaseSwiss who are now back in Borough Market opposite the Monmouth Coffee Company on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and still at Druid Street on Saturdays. And you can buy Sue's book direct from the publisher Bergli here. At 49 Swiss francs (£33.63) it's not cheap but if you're a cheesemonger or a serious cheese aficionado it's well worth it.

Borough's night cheese market

After a bit of lull on the cheese front I’ve spent two consecutive nights at cheesy Christmas events. No, I don’t mean panto but Borough Market’s Evening of Cheese in London and our own Christmas Cheese School in Bristol about which I’ll report in a day or so.

I’d missed out on the Borough event last year so was determined to make it. Held in the Jubilee market it brings together all the cheese traders and shops in and around the market including Neal’s Yard (of course), French affineur Hervé Mons and a brilliant Swiss stand, Käseswiss which I’d been meaning to visit for a while. You could (and I did) buy mulled cider then wander around the stalls nibbling. There were so many great cheeses you don’t normally get the chance to taste of which the Bermondsey hard-pressed cheese (below) must be the most recherché.



Needless to say I spent far too much including a box of delicious but wildly expensive Elvas apricots I bought from a Portuguese stall together with a fabulous sheeps cheese called Casa d’Agua Levada, set with cardoons ...


... a good hunk of the most perfect Comté from the convincingly French-looking John of Hervé Mons (below) and L’Etivaz, a Swiss cheese made from summer milk.


There’s a full list of Borough Market’s cheese suppliers here


I was wondering, as I was nibbling, what is the best Christmas cheese. Stilton/Stichelton are obviously candidates. A good artisanal cheddar? An aged Comté? Vacherin Mont d’Or - although I associate that more with January? What’s your seasonal favourite?

Androuet comes to London

I was wandering through Spitalfields market yesterday when I came across a smart-looking cheese shop - the first London outpost of the famous Parisien fromagerie Androuet. It's pretty small with a mixture of French and European cheeses, supplied by Androuet and English ones, sourced through Paxton and Whitfield with whom they appear to be in partnership.

There's a chic little wine and cheese bar at the back where they're already offering cheese plates and apparently plan to offer classic cheese dishes like raclette and fondue shortly.

I didn't have time to browse but managed to pick up a cheese I hadn't tasted: a delicious Swiss cheese called Bergblumenkase or Bergblume which I discover is rolled in alpine herbs. It's quite similar to a Gruyère in texture but much richer and fuller in flavour. I suspect it would go best with a crisp fruity white wine but it rubbed along fine with the modest Cabardes we were drinking last night.

I'll go back and try the hot dishes which I hope are better than those at L'Art du Fromage, the cheese-focussed restaurant I reviewed a few weeks back. It certainly looks a much more contemporary joint and has the virtue of being in a rather more accessible location.