Ingredient: Gruyère
Category: Dairy- Cheese
Season: All
Gruyère is a hard yellow cheese made from cows’ milk, named after the town of Gruyères in Switzerland, and made in the cantons of Fribourg, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Jura, and Berne.
Before 2001, when Gruyère gained Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée status as a Swiss cheese, some controversy existed whether French cheeses of a similar nature could also be labeled Gruyère. (French Gruyère-style cheeses include Comté and Beaufort.)
Gruyère is sweet but slightly salty, with a flavour that varies widely with age.
It is often described as creamy and nutty when young, becoming with age more assertive, earthy, and complex.
When fully aged (five months to a year) it tends to have small holes and cracks which impart a slightly grainy mouth feel.
To make an 80 kg round of Gruyère cheese, about 800 litres of milk is used.
Culinary Uses:
Gruyère is generally known as one of the finest cheeses for baking, having a distinctive but not overpowering taste.
In quiche, Gruyère adds savouriness without overshadowing the other ingredients.
It is a good melting cheese, so particularly suited for fondues, along with Vacherin and Emmental.
It is also traditionally used in French onion soup, as well as in Croque Monsieur, a classic French toasted ham and cheese sandwich.
It is a fine table cheese, and when grated, it is often used with salads and pastas.
It is used, grated, on top of Le Tourin, a type of garlic soup from France, which is served on dried bread.
Most of the great Continental cheeses are legally protected and can only be made in a certain way in a certain region. Gruyère is not like this, it is a broader (generic) description of a large, hard cheese made by cooking the milk, which means heating beyond the temperature needed to simply get the curds to form.
Gruyère has a yeasty, nutty flavour and close texture.
Famous AOC cheeses within the Gruyère group are Beaufort and Conte (France) and Emmenthal (France and Switzerland).
Varieties:
Le Gruyère Switzerland AOC has many different varieties with different aged profiles and an organic version of the cheese is also sold.
There is a special variety that is produced only in summer on the Swiss Alps: the Le Gruyère Switzerland AOC Alpage, see below.
Generally you can distinguish the following age profiles.
mild/doux: min. 5 months old
réserve: min. 10 months old
In Switzerland, many other age profiles can be found, including surchoix, vieux, salé, grotte (cave aged). All these age profiles are not part of the AOC.
Le Gruyère Premier Cru
Le Gruyère Premier Cru is a special variety, produced and matured exclusively in the canton of Fribourg and matured for 14 months in humid caves with a humidity of 95% and a temperature of 13.5° Celsius
It is the only cheese that has won the title of best cheese of the world at the World cheese Awards in London three times: in 1992, 2002 and 2005. (The Independent England, 16, march 2005}
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