From the Iron Age to Rolling Cheese
The mountains of Central Europe have provided an ideal environment for cheesemaking earlier than previously thought. Pottery fragments found in the Swiss Alps have yielded traces of cheese, as well as evidence of buildings that may have served as mountain huts for cheesemaking over 3,000 years ago.
Climate change in the Alps after the last ice age led to fluctuating temperatures, and high forests were no longer able to regenerate during the colder winters. As a result, the tree line moved down the slope, transforming the forests into lush meadows suitable for summer grazing.
Those who lived on the slopes of the mountains found a way to adapt to the harsh environment. Families, each with a few cows, formed villages in the valleys and herded the animals together in the high, warm summer months. Huge quantities of delicious milk were preserved for year-round use in the form of cheese.
"Making these cheeses helps us to sustain the environment," says Laure Rousseau-Favey, former marketing manager for the Gruyère AOP (Appellation d'Origine Protégée) organization. One of the largest producers of alpine cheeses is Switzerland, where up to 40 percent of the country's milk is transformed into artisanal cheese, while providing employment in marginalized areas. Dairies also provide local farmers with a reliable outlet for their milk, and Rousseau adds: "they give people a place to buy local products... they keep communities alive."
TRANSHUMANCE - A THOUSAND YEARS OF TRADITION
Making cheese at altitudes above the Alps requires not only skill and patience, but also a deep knowledge of the environment, climate and animals. In the high mountains, summer is short, and traditional grazing and cheesemaking can only take place from May to September. The journey to the alpine pastures was often long, and the pastures were moved for the entire summer season. This practice is called "transhumance".
Transhumance is a term originally of French origin, derived from the Latin word trans humus (across the land). It refers to the practice of moving livestock between summer and winter grazing, which has been a part of mountain life since prehistoric times.
Over the centuries, transhumance and alpine grazing have shaped landscapes and formed symbioses with the environment. Seasonal grazing helps alpine meadows regenerate and maintain them. Without this, the rich biodiversity of the meadows would begin to disappear.
Seasonal migration is still practiced in areas from Austria and Switzerland to Italy, Spain and the Balkans. In the French and Swiss Alps, transhumance takes place from lower valley pastures to higher ground above the tree line, while in other areas, such as Italy, Spain or the Balkans, transhumance may require enormous distances.
Etivaz - a small village success story
Swiss Etivaz has preserved its traditions almost unchanged for centuries, thanks to the close-knit village community and their unwavering faith in their own produce.
Every May, when the snow finally recedes, Etivaz’s 72 cheese-making families slowly make their way up the mountain to the summer pastures with their cattle. The families move between three alpine pastures during the summer, ensuring the health and sustainability of the meadows. The cheese is made by hand in small mountain huts, in large wood-fired copper pots, where the warm smoky flavor blends with the aromas colored by the lush alpine flora.
In September, families gather the cattle and cheeses, and begin the slow descent down into the valley, where the cheeses are taken to the village's communal ripening caves. Read more here!
Steiner - the pearl of South Tyrol
In the shadow of the Dolomites, on the northern border of Trentino Alto Adige, the Eggemoa farm is situated on a slope so steep that even mowing the hay has to be done by hand. Machines would tip over and slide down the 1,300-meter-high mountainside.
The Steiners have been producing milk for cheesemaking here since 2001, but it was only after the family's son Michael graduated from the Swiss Cheese School in 2017 that the dairy was retooled and a new era of cheesemaking began on the farm.
Thanks to Michael, the Eggemoa farm found a new connection to the magnificent mountain region. The family makes small soft cheeses, using their own raw milk and ingredients from the forest surrounding the farm: larch needles, spruce bark, juniper berries. Michael has also adopted a new approach to the holistic well-being of the animals. In the summer, the Steiners’ 15 cows spend their time grazing in the alpine meadows surrounding the farm, keeping them tidy. In the winter, the cows eat hay that is hand-mowed from the farm – never tank feed.
The end result is small, captivating cheeses, such as the family-named Steiner putty cheese, where you can taste Michael's passion and the rustic environment of the mountain region.
Plancerin d'Areches - a new-age classic
When the snow melts, Caroline Jouguetin climbs with her herd of 30 goats to graze in the Rougnoux mountains near Areches-Beaufort. Here, Caroline shares a mountain hut with her parents, whose Abondance and Tarine cows graze on the flatter alpine meadows, while Caroline's goats graze between the more inaccessible rock formations.
Caroline's love for goats began as a child, when she was given a pair of goats as a gift. Over the years, she grew her herd until she was ready to start commercial cheese production.
Caroline developed Plancherin d'Areches together with Herve Mons to create a summer version of the famous Vacherin Mont d'Or. Plancerin d'Areches is a tribute to traditional mountain cheesemaking, and follows two traditions from the Alps: goat farming and the use of fir hoops.
In Plancherin d'Areches, velvety soft goat's milk cheese meets aromatic fir wood in a way you can't forget.
Watch a video below about the millennia-old tradition of transhumance across the borders of Italy and Austria.
