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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Switzerland, cantons of Fribourg, Vaud, Neuchâtel and Jura, and parts of the canton of Bern

Le Gruyère AOPLe Gruyère

Le Gruyère is a large raw-milk cheese from cows fed no silage, made in open copper vats with the dairy's own whey cultures and rennet. The curd is cooked to 54–59 °C, pressed into wheels of 25–40 kg, brined, and ripened at least five months on spruce boards, where the rind is smeared and turns brown. Made in 7 steps over 5.1 months. The longest step, ripen on spruce boards with a smeared rind, takes at least 5 months (Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture 1999) and runs at 12–18 °C (Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture 1999). Lactobacillus helveticus from the natural whey culture, several strains that persist through 6 months of ripening and Smear (morge) bacteria on the rind, which with the lactic bacteria give the fruity taste do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 5 monthsSet[blw-summary]Ripen on spruce boards with a smeared rind
Temperature12–18 °CSet[blw-summary]Ripen on spruce boards with a smeared rind

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. Open copper vats hold at most 6000 l; a wheel is 9.5–12 cm high and weighs 25–40 kg.
Raw cow milk · From cows fed no silage; delivered twice a day from within 20 km; never cooled below 15 °C; the only treatment is adjusting the fat of the morning milk[blw-summary]
The dairy's own whey cultures (levains d'exploitation) · Whey from the previous day's make, incubated at 38 °C for 20 h[blw-summary][moser2018]
Rennet[blw-summary]
Salt[blw-summary]
Starter: natural whey culture made in the dairy from the previous day's whey

Total time across the recorded steps: 5.1 months

Start
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at least 15 °C

What changes: Starting material: raw evening and morning milk from cows fed no silage

Step 1 of 7
Collect raw milk twice a day
Time
up to 18 h
Set
Temperature
at least 15 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacillus helveticus
Lactic acid bacteria

Carrying milk over to another day's make is banned.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Gruyère is cooked hotter than most Alpine cheeses, at 54–59 °C, and made only with the dairy's own whey cultures from raw milk that is never cooled below 15 °C. Unlike Emmentaler it is not warmed to grow big eyes; it ripens at least five months with a smeared rind on spruce.

Milk
Raw milk from cows fed no silage, delivered twice a day from within 20 km, never cooled below 15 °C
Setting
In open copper vats of up to 6000 l, within 18 h of the oldest milking, with house cultures and rennet
Cooking
54–59 °C
Ripening
At least 5 months at 12–18 °C on unplaned spruce boards in humid cellars
Size
25–40 kg, 9.5–12 cm high; fat in dry matter 49–53%; water 34.5–36.9%; smeared, grainy brown rind

Related ferments

Variants

  • Gruyère d'alpageMade in summer on alpine pastures

Safety

Gruyère is a raw-milk cheese, but as a cooked pressed cheese it is the exception in the ANSES advice to pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity, who are told to avoid other raw-milk cheeses.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli (raw-milk risks named by ANSES; cooked pressed cheeses such as Gruyère are the exception to its advice).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The founding charter of the Cluniac priory of Rougemont, in the County of Gruyère, mentions pressed cooked cheese in 1115, and the crane appears in Count Rodolphe III's arms in 1221. Gruyères had a dairy market by the mid-14th century, and in 1762 the Académie française defined the word as a cheese made in Gruyère.

  1. [blw-summary] Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture, Register of designations of origin, Résumé de la demande d'enregistrement du « Gruyère » (24 September 1999)spec
  2. [moser2018] Moser A. et al. 2018, Population dynamics of Lactobacillus helveticus in Swiss Gruyère-type cheese manufactured with natural whey cultures, Frontiers in Microbiology 9:637paper
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov