Switzerland: Part I - Welcome to Mifroma

In September I had the honor of being approached by Mifroma Switzerland and becoming a Brand Ambassador. Established in 1964, Mifroma is a company that is dedicated to selecting and aging the best Swiss cheeses and bringing them to eager and hungry consumers. Aging or affinage is the refining of cheese to bring it to its utmost potential. I highly consider it to be the most crucial part of the cheese creative process. Part of my newfound duty as Brand Ambassador entailed traveling to Switzerland to visit their cheese caves and local cheesemakers.  Naturally I was appalled by such an invitation and shuddered at the thought.

I decided to take the train from my home in Paris, France to Lausanne, Switzerland as I have fallen in love with traveling by train over the last couple of years. Journeying by train and seeing landscapes that I used to picture in my head as a child or only in movies helps me to feel more connected to the earth and with my work as a cheese professional. I feel dreamy as the train chugs through the French countryside, landscape becoming more vivid and dynamic as we approach the Alps. I feel like a kid again as I can’t stop myself from pressing my face against the glass as we wind through the mountains and I know I’m headed towards a place I’m already falling in love with.  I'm bustling with excitement as the train is finally pulling into Lausanne, the first stop on my Swiss journey.

Lake Geneva, Chexbres, Switzerland

I arrive at the station and meet with Mifroma representatives as well as a small group of food bloggers and photographers that will also be discovering Mifroma and Switzerland with me. Our tiny group of eight consisted of mainly food bloggers or food photographers. We were a hodgepodge of nationalities (4 French, 1 Israeli, 2 Japanese, and I the American). I was the only person that worked in beloved Cheeseworld but I was stoked to meet others just as earnest and excited as I was. Mifroma was kind enough to provide us with a private mini-bus and chauffeur for the duration of our trip. We boarded the bus and headed to our first destination…lunch of course.

Delicious Swiss Fare

We lunched at Le Baron Tavernier, a restaurant and hotel with panoramic views overlooking the gorgeous and expansive Lake Geneva in Chexbres, Switzerland. This was a time to eat, drink, and be merry as we were introduced to our itinerary for the next few days. The restaurant featured traditional Swiss faire fused with modern gastronomic techniques. As a foodie and human garbage disposal, I was thrilled. It was really cool to meet with the others on the trip and get a sense of everyone’s different backgrounds and expertise. After the exquisite lunch, we finally ventured to the place that had been making my heart pound for the last several days in anticipation - the Mifroma cellar!

Over the course of my career in cheese, I have worked in many roles: affineur, cheesemaker, cheesemonger, educator, consultant… but for me, affinage is certainly the nearest and dearest to my heart.  I've always considered my work as an affineur to be my true nature in Cheeseworld because it was my initial bedrock when I first started in the caves of Murray's Cheese in NYC.  Affinage is the catalyst that transforms the cheeses we have come to know and love in our lives into those extraordinary vehicles of flavor and emotion. Affinage saved my life, but that's a story for another day :)

Suited, Booted, & Ready for the Caves

Machines washing wheels of cheese at the Mifroma caves

Mifroma’s Caves are located in Ursy, Fribourg, Switzerland which is in the Western part of the country in the heart of the gorgeous Swiss Alps. The facility is absolutely enormous…more like a cheese bank that was carved into the natural mountain caves. Mifroma ages dozens of cheeses including Appenzeller, Bauernkäse, Gruyere, and Vacherin Fribourgeois to name a few.  We had to dress in the proper attire before entering the caves – hairnets, boots, lab coats, the works! Work in any cheese caves is really like the equivalent of being in a food laboratory. I was amazed at seeing the size and the efficiency of their operation. Nearly everything is done by machinations. Giant wheels of Raclette and Emmentaler would pass by and receive robotic baths or be perfectly cut, wrapped, and prepared for the marketplace. Everything was smooth and precise. My favorite area of the caves was of course the Gruyere section which held 95,000 wheels of Gruyere! Insane!

Brieyoncé & Gérald Menoud

Affineurs Unite!

I was guided through the caves by Andreas Flury (head of the marketing department) and Gérald Menoud (Maître Affineur). We were shown several different age profiles of Gruyere and unfortunately had to taste them all. Menoud showed us a technique for telling if a wheel of Gruyere is ripening properly which consisted of a sort of echolocation technique with a tiny cheese hammer. Depending on the sound, he can tell if the wheel is developing correctly. He also explained to us that Gruyere is held to an extremely high standard of production and judged on a 20 point scale. Any wheels that score below a 19.6 are considered to be inferior and will not be accepted by Mifroma for continued aging. Menoud and the other affineurs are skilled that they can tell if a wheel will meet their standards just by the smell or one tiny taste at a very young age. This testing is done when Gruyere wheels are quite young (3-4 months old). This level of sensory analysis is critical to the business of affinage and it is a goal of mine to continue to build up my sensory elevation so I too can one day be able to assess cheeses so intimately.

Cooking with Michelin Star Chef Marie Robert of Cafe Suisse

Her restaurant is located in Bex, Switzerland

Following the excursion in the caves, we had a private tasting of exceptional cheeses and wines curated by the Mifroma staff where we were introduced to Marie Robert, the owner of the Michelin Star restaurant La Café Suisse and recently awarded Swiss Chef of the Year. She led us in a cooking demonstration which was great because I got to pretend that I knew what I was doing and cook alongside a world class chef. Together, we all prepared a futuristic and fancy meal for dinner.

We finished the day by chatting with Mifroma staff, Marie Robert, and Gérald Menoud over delicious cheeses, desserts, and wines. I felt so at peace nestled in the heart of these cheese caves surrounded by people enamored with the same things I was. I couldn’t believe that this was just the first day…