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Sunday, March 4, 2012

Von Muehlenen Classic Gruyere Cheese



I've joked before about how you'd wind up with multiple pounds of cheese if you bought it from Costco but that's not true. You can buy Von Muhlenen Classic Gruyere just one pound at a time.


Out of the package, I cut the cheese into two pieces and trimmed the rind from the smaller piece. It's the first time I'll be trying a Swiss Gruyere. The two I've tried, Grand Cru and Boar's Head, are American.  


Trying the rind, it's really dry.


The cheese is delicious. Smooth, creamy, and nutty. I love how partly skimmed raw cow milk, animal rennet, bacterial cultures, and salt can come together and make cheese.


Here's a couple words on Gruyere from the Larousse Gastronomique I found interesting:
A Swiss or French cows'-milk cheese (45% fat content) with a firm but pliable texture and a brushed and washed rind. It takes about six months to mature in a damp cellar, and has a nutty flavour. It is ivory yellow or golden brown in colour.
Gruyere cheese is made in rounds weighing 35-45 kg (66-100 lb), 50-65 cm (20-26 in) in diameter and about 11 cm (4 in) thick.
According to the Swiss, Gruyere cheese is named after the Counts of Gruyere, whose coat of arms was embellished with a crane (grue) and who settled in the Gruyere valley in the canton of Fribourg at the beginning of the 9th century (in France, Swiss Gruyere is called 'Fribourg').
 Von Muehlenen Classic Gruyere Cheese available in one pound portions for $10.49/lb at Costco.


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