Saanen cheese was already praised as “allerbester käss” (very best cheese) in Johannes Stumpf’s chronicle of 1548. The method of production of rennet cheese, the ancestor, so to speak, of our present-day Alpine cheese, had probably already been brought to our Alps by Italian shepherds in the 15th century. The process was revolutionary because it enabled the dairymen to curdle milk at around 32 degrees Celsius using rennet – an enzyme extracted from the stomachs of calves – and produce a hard cheese.

As the Saanenland and Pays-d’Enhaut were still part of the county of Gruyères at that time, it can be assumed that this “original cheese” was similar throughout the region. Simmental Alpkäse, which as a neighbour benefited from the excellent reputation of Saanen cheese and was even sometimes sold as such, probably also belonged to this category. Over time, however, the method of production, the temperature of the milk, the subsequent treatment with salt and the length of storage resulted in different types of cheese.

It is documented that after 1550, rennet cheese production by dairymen from the Gruyère region became known as far as the Emmental and Unterwalden, where Emmental and Sbrinz cheese was subsequently produced. The rennet cheese production made it possible, through storage and salting, to preserve the cheese and make it transportable thanks to its hard rind, which was not possible with Ziger, cream cheese and other curdled milk cheeses that had been known long before.

From the 17th century onwards, the export of Saaner Alpkäse was promoted on a large scale by the Bernese lordship. It was transported in barrels, so-called Lageln, on the backs of mules, just as the Gruyère cheese was transported over the Col de Jaman to Vevey and then on across Lake Geneva, mainly to France and Savoy, but also to northern Italy. On the Rhone it also reached the port of Marseille, from where it was shipped to the world’s oceans and most probably overseas as nutritious and long-lasting provisions for ships.

At times, this trade was so extensive that there was a shortage of butter in Bern. As a consequence, dairy cattle breeding and grassland farming gradually replaced cereal farming in the mountain valleys, and in the Alps forests were cleared to make way for pastures.

However, the rise of Alpine cheese was gradually interrupted by the emergence of valley dairies in the 19th century. Thanks to improved technology, the village dairies were able to produce cheese in larger quantities all year round and at low cost. As a result, the production of cheese on the Alps was no longer profitable, all the more so as the chocolate manufacturer Nestlé in Vevey began buying up milk production from the region in the 1870s.

It was only in the last 50 years that the tasty, hand-made natural product from our Alpine farms experienced a renaissance as a result of the milk quota system and was promoted as Berner Alpkäse and Hobelkäse by the CasAlp trade organisation from 1993 onwards. Protected by the AOP (PDO) label, the cheese has returned on the route of success from 2004 onwards, especially on the regional market and even throughout Switzerland – just as L’Étivaz AOP (PDO) from the French-speaking neighbours is again very popular in France today.

BASED ON AVS/MARTIN GURTNER-DUPERREX