When it comes to farm exports, Virginia’s top customers are Canada and China, but the country in third place might surprise you. Switzerland spends more than $200 million here – most of it on tobacco. Virginia, on the other hand, imports $280 million in Swiss products, including cheese, and we may be buying more of it in the years to come.
Switzerland has been milking cows and making cheese for more than 500 years, and the country takes its cheese very seriously.
“In Switzerland we have more than 450 cheese types officially,” says Cesare Caci, who operates a cooperative dairy in the storied Emmentaler region – making the signature cheese with holes. He and his country are working hard to protect the market.
“Switzerland is one of the only countries in the world that has like a national bacteria bank for cheese production.”
That bacteria allows inspectors to genetically test what’s in the stores -- to make sure any manufacturer offering Emmentaler is selling cheese from that part of Switzerland.
To tell the story of real Emmentaler cheese, Caci’s dairy offers a Disney-like experience, taking thousands of visitors on a tour guided by a cartoon cow, a lady farmer and a mouse.
“Is everyone in the cheese? Where’s the mouse?” calls the farmer. “Hey, wait for me!” cries the mouse, racing to catch up with the tour.
Visitors learn about the chemistry of Swiss cheese and its history.
“Everybody wants Emmentaler,” says the farmer. “More and more it’s exported to Europe and America. Even the Russian tsar and the Spanish court demands the king of cheeses.”
Tour takers also watch the cheese being made -- and inspected. Caci explains that as this cheese ages, the bacteria produce gases that form the signature holes – and by tapping on each 220-pound wheel, the cheese master can assess its evolution.
“The holes are very good in this cheese – from the rind up to the middle the sound changes, but around the middle of the wheel we have the same sound. It means a good situation for the holes. Good holes, better price.”
Italy buys 16% of Emmentaler, and the Italians like their Swiss cheese with bigger holes, so Caci will let some wheels age a bit longer than the minimum four months.
Lately, the Swiss have gone to even greater lengths to please other markets.
Faculty from the University of the Arts in Bern teamed up with another dairy to experiment with music. Different wheels of cheese were subjected to rock, classical, opera, techno beat and hip hop. In a blind taste test, Caci says, the judges agreed. Hip hop produced a tastier product – sweeter and fruitier, with notably bigger holes. Caci credits the bass:
“Boom, boom, boom, I can imagine that bacteria react to that,” he says. “For me it was not tastier than other cheeses, but it was very good!”
He’s not playing music for his cheese wheels, but he admits that each day he visits the cellar to say hi.
Other manufacturers have experimented with added ingredients like wasabi or beets which gave the cheese a reddish color, popular in the Chinese market.
The American market may also grow now that the Trump administration has threatened tariffs on cheese from the EU. Switzerland never joined that economic block, so it may have a price advantage when competing for customers here.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
