Featured Cheese

Grand Cru Gruyère

In High Gruyère

Our Grand Cru Gruyère is a chef’s best friend. A staple in quiches, omelets, fondues, au gratin dishes and French onion soup, this mild, creamy nutty cheese enhances virtually any dish in which cheese is melted, heated or blended. It also holds its own as a table cheese served with toasted nuts and fresh fruit.

The Making of Grand Cru Gruyère with Cheese Buyer, Patty Solomon

Nestled in the rolling hills of Wisconsin, Roth Käse USA houses a Swiss-made copper vat used for the traditional production of Gruyère. It is here that the Market District^® cheese team was invited to experience the making of Grand Cru Gruyère.

We began at 5:30 a.m. by observing how the milk — collected from local farms — was heated until it curdled in the legendary copper vat. The curd was then cut and pumped into the large tables of cheese molds. Our job was to place the lids on the molds and press them to expel the whey. We then flipped the molds and waited as the pH (acidity) level of the cheese dropped, allowing the curds to knit together. 

The next step was to release the cheese from the molds. The cheeses, weighing 18 pounds each, were then thrown across the vat for us to put on the drying racks. Finally, we helped clean by spraying out all of the molds and scrubbing the tables. The work was hard and the environment hot, so we got a real workout along with a new appreciation for the effort and skill that goes into cheesemaking.

When we were through, our Gruyère was placed in an aging cooler to be tended by the Roth Käse cheesemakers for the next four months. In this time, they will routinely remove the cheeses, brine them, brush them with water and turn them — a labor-intensive process that delivers the taste of this carefully aged Gruyère.

Tired, yet satisfied, we left Roth Käse thrilled with having had the opportunity to help make our own cheese for you.