Alpine cheeses are excellent for fondue, grilled cheese sandwiches, mornay (cheese sauce), and many other beautiful dishes. For those who are lactose intolerant, Alpines are ideal since they have the lowest percentage of milk sugar. I recommend Comte and Gruyere, from Italy, Switzerland, France, and Austria mountain regions.
Thermophilic lactic acid bacteria (LAB), such as Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus helveticus, and propionic acid bacteria (PAB), mainly propionibacterium freudenreichii ssp. shermanii are common starter cultures in Alpine cheeses. Most of them taste sweet since the starter culture helveticus is present.
Chef, what creates the holes in the cheese?
The starter culture propionibacterium freudenreichii creates holes during the fermentation process. It is here when lactate changes to acetate, propionate, and CO2 … and then poof, Swiss cheese, Jarlsberg, and Emmenthaler!
Roth cheese from Monroe, Wisconsin, makes amazing Alpine-style cheeses. My personal favorite is the Le Cremeaux, Pavino, and Grand Cru. Their Surchoix is a wash-rind Alpine, and they have a vast pool of brine that gets reused repeatedly. They clean the brine by often straining it since they cannot dump the solution down the drain because its pH value will affect the town's water supply.
This is where the wash rinds sit in the huge vats of brine.
This is there temperature controlled lockers filled with cheese.
This is them sitting inside the temperature controlled locker room. Throughout the duration of the aging process, affineurs will turn the cheeses, and score them to make sure they are doing what they are suppose to be doing.
This is where we would use a cheese trier, which looks like an apple corer, to make sure the cheese is turning out like it should. Then they would put it back and continue to turn the cheeses to mature. I say if you get one, make a wish, since it's once in awhile you see a wheel with a test hole.
