Emmentaler Réserve Cheese at the Deli
Artisan Swiss mountain excellence at its traditional best
Every once in a while, there’s a cheese at the Deli that is SO delicious that I have a hard time not eating it in great quantities. This week, it’s the Emmentaler Réserve AOP we have in stock from Switzerland! Man is it good! Nutty, bracingly intense without being bitter or strong, subtly sweet and super complex with a great long finish. The cheese is laced with those lovely crystals of the amino acid tyrosine (often mistaken by many as salt)—that happen only at about 18 months of maturing—that give a gentle, subtle crunch when you savor some of the cheese!
What makes this cheese so special? As I discussed in the pamphlet “A Revolution of Dignity in the Twenty-First Century Workplace,” the process of Emmentaler AOP cheesemaking is built on the foundation of dignity at every level. The farmers, the cows, the land, the community, the cheese, and the customers—all are treated with respect and care in this wonderfully regenerative process. It starts with the cows. They graze on a diverse diet of grasses and herbs in open meadows, which gives the milk and the cheese a unique and rich flavor. The herds are small, usually just 12 to 20 cows, allowing farmers to maintain a close connection with each animal. Healthier, well-cared-for cows naturally produce higher-quality milk. The milk itself is raw and delivered to the dairy twice a day. It still arrives in old-school milk cans. Unlike industrial pumping, which is faster but can damage the delicate fat globules in the milk, cans can help preserve quality. The milk is made into cheese within 12 hours of milking, ensuring it’s as fresh as possible when the process begins.
The Emmentaler Réserve we have on hand right now was made by two-time world champion Fritz Baumgartner near the tiny mountain village of Trub, about halfway between Bern and Lucerne.
As a child, I used to spend a lot of time in the cheese dairy and help my father with the cheese production. Now I run the cheese dairy in the second generation and process the milk from the surrounding farms into traditional Emmentaler AOP. In 2017, we were able to expand the business with an organic production line and now also process organic milk from the surrounding farms into organic Emmentaler AOP. … As a cheesemaker, I am very ambitious and aim to produce top-quality products. As a person, I am generous and can hardly say no.
You can see the cheesemaking process on this Instagram post by Gourmino managing partner Joe Salonia. Cheesemaking like this—huge wheels done by hand using artisan techniques—is very hard work! For a hobby, Baumgartner uses beekeeping to take his mind off his daily duties at the creamery.
The wheels of Emmentaler Réserve we have at the Deli, and the cheese I’ve been enjoying for the last week or so, have been aged for an impressive 22+ months or more. The affinage process begins in Goumino’s Langnau Emmental cellars, where the wheels are hand-washed weekly. Later, the best wheels are moved to the facility in Reichenbach Mountain Galleries for what they refer to as “Affinage in the Mountain,” since the cellar is literally carved into the mountainside.
With its many months of maturing, it should be no surprise that the flavor of the Emmentaler Réserve is meaty, concentrated, complex, and compelling. There’s a small touch of sweetness, a good bit of lovely bitterness. Eat it at room temperature to access its full flavor. Great with some of the heirloom apples we can still get around here this time of year! Totally terrific on slices of Dinkelbrot from the Bakehouse spread generously with Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter. Or with some sliced ham on one of the Bakehouse’s Cultured Butter Croissants. Actually, if you like a sweet-savory combination, the sweet nuttiness of the Emmental is a surprisingly great pairing with one of the newly more cultured Juliet Almond Croissants as well!
Anyone who loves full-flavored traditional cheese will, I’m really confident, find the Emmentaler Réserve as compelling as I have! And, if you really like great mountain cheese like I do, I recommend buying more of this stuff than you might think you want—supply is short, flavor is big, and, like I said up top, I’m having a hard time not eating a lot of it!
