Login
Raw materials/Variety/Race
The Vacherin Fribourgeois AOC is a cheese made with raw or thermized milk obtained from cows nurtured principally (at 70%) with grass and hay.
Method of working/Cultivation/Breeding
the Vacherin Fribourgeois AOC is daily made in copper cauldrons with raw milk delivered twice a day at the cheese dairy. The cows are nurtured all the year around with natural fodder. Fermented fodder and additives are forbidden. Each cheese is marked in order to guarantee its traceability. Cheese makers from Fribourg use all their know-how to produce the Vacherin Fribourgeois AOC, made with raw or thermized milk, curdled at 32°C into a copper cauldron, mixed and then heated at 36°C. Fresh cheeses are then pressed, marked in order to guarantee their traceability and strapped with a gauze bandage. After the immersion into a salty bath, cheeses are ripened for three to six months.
Aspect and Taste
the Vacherin Fribourgeois AOC is a round cheese with straight or slightly convex sides. Its rind is clean, smooth (wavy sometimes) and varies from a brown-yellow to a brown-grey or brown-red colour. The round wheels measures between 30 and 40 cm in diameter, between 6 and 9 cm in height and weigh between 6 and 10 kg. The semi-hard paste is easy to cut. It is creamy and thin and its colour varies between ivory and pale yellow. The maturing stage lasts from nine weeks up to several months, according to the variety. Typical from the Fribourg land, the Vacherin Fribourgeois AOC is characterized by a thin paste and a creamy and subtly refined texture.
Production Zone
The production area of Vacherin Fribourgeois AOC includes the canton of Fribourg, in the western part of Switzerland.
History
The Vacherin Fribourgeois AOC is a cheese made with cows milk. It has a semi-firm or non-cooked pressed paste and a washed rind. It is made exclusively in the high mountain pastures and in the villages of Fribourg canton. Its name comes from Vaccarinus, a latin word meaning petit vacher (small cowherd). According to the legend, a monk called Vaccarinus, native from Fribourg and living in the spanish monastery of Mont-Serrat, had in inheritance from his father the secret production method of a delightful cheese very appreciated by the monks. The substantive "Vacherin" dates back to 1420 at least, while the name "Vacherin fribourgeois" dates back to december 1981.
Gastronomy
The Vacherin Fribourgeois AOC should be kept in the refrigerator. It can be eaten cut or melted (fondue). Particularly aromatic and deliciously creamy, the fondue can be savoured warm (pure Vacherin Fribourgeois) or cooked with Gruyère AOC (half-half), accompanied with bread or potatoes.
Marketing
The product is sold as Vacherin Fribourgeois AOC. It is marketed whole or in portions, in six typologies: Classic, Rustic, Extra, Alpage, Montagne and Bio.
Distinctive features
The milk used to produce the Vacherin Fribourgeois AOC reflects the nature of the grasslands where the cows feed, characterized by a rich and flavoured flora and by a fat land watered by a constant pluviometry, and gives the cheese its peculiar taste.