Soft caramel at home recipe. Soft milk caramel

Business card cheese "Emmental" - these are large holes - "eyes" and an incomparable soft sweetish taste. Emmental cheese is very popular. People call it Swiss. And all because it is the basis of the Swiss national dish- cheese fondue.

Switzerland is the birthplace of cheese

Switzerland is considered the most “prosperous” country for cheeses. You can always see a herd of cows, which have long become an unspoken symbol of the country. Cattle really enjoy living in Switzerland. Green pastures, stretching for several kilometers, serve as an ideal food for herbivores. As you know, the quality of cheese directly depends on its main component - milk. How can cows, daily fed with natural meadow grass, give bad milk? Of course not! Therefore cheese and dairy products produced in Switzerland are of high quality, incomparable taste and aroma. Emmental cheese is no exception.

Cheese product for a healthy diet

Almost all cheeses in Switzerland are made from fresh milk, so they are considered products of beauty, health and harmony. Cheese "Emmental" is called It is also made from fresh milk, which is given by Alpine cows, and then sent to the caves for aging. Ready cheese"decorated" big holes and has a sweet, nutty flavor. By the way, your name milk product received from the river Emma. In its valley is the European center of cheese making - Bern.

The calorie content of Emmental cheese is 380 kcal per 100 g of product. The quality of cheese can be determined by the shape of the holes and their "behavior". If a cheese product periodically "cries" - droplets of milk appear in his eyes - this indicates his highest quality. But today, “weeping” cheese can rarely be seen on store shelves. During the period of its delivery to the retail network, all drops dry up.

How Emmental cheese is made

For the production of the famous cheese product, fresh milk is used. It is heated to a temperature of +34 ° C and mixed with fermented milk. The resulting yogurt is then crushed into granules. Then the mass is heated again, large heads are formed from it, which are kept in brine for three days. Next, the cheese product is sent to the caves for aging. One month the cheese is in a damp cold room, after which it is transferred to a warm cellar. The maturation period of Emmental cheese is 2-2.5 months. At the end of this period, the product is again placed in a cold cave. The ripening period of this variety lasts for 15-20 months. Emmental cheese is very beautiful and appetizing. The photo below shows this.

What can replace Emmental cheese?

Swiss hard cheese "Emmental" is used for cooking variety of salads, desserts and second courses. It goes well with wine and fruit. Do not forget that Swiss cheese is the main ingredient in fondue. But not every refrigerator has Emmental cheese. How to replace the famous product? Some housewives recommend using Gouda, Mozzarella or Maasdam cheeses in these cases. But still, Emmental cheese in its classic version gives the cheese fondue a special rich taste and impeccable fragrance. Today, Swiss fondue is considered an aristocratic dish. original recipe its preparation includes only Emmental cheese, wine, fresh bread. Today, in the preparation of fondue, these ingredients are replaced by cherry tincture, cheaper cheeses and various spices. Often potatoes, olives, gherkins are added to the dish, but this is not at all the same ...

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"- Comrades, Swiss cheese, Greek olives. Please, please, help yourself!"
Film "Office Romance"

Emmental cheese is a product made in Switzerland. Here it is called the cheese of the Alpine shepherds, and the first mention of this cheese dates back to 1293. Those who first tasted the real Swiss Emmental will never forget it. delicate taste and a particularly delicate aroma. Yes, and outwardly the cheese is very recognizable, but first things first.

Initially, cheese was made only in Switzerland, but as its popularity grew, it began to be produced in other countries - in France, Italy, Germany, Finland.
Real Emmental cheese is made according to a certain technology, peculiar only to Switzerland. By the way, the cheese owes its name to the Emma River, which flows near the city of Bern, where it was originally produced. For a long time, the production process was manual, and it is not for nothing that this cheese is proudly called the “king of cheeses”.

The cheese is made from the milk of Alpine cows. In spring and summer, lush grass grows in the meadows, and it is the spring-summer milk from cows that is used to make cheese. After milking, the milk is delivered to the workshops. There it is heated to 34`C, then rennet is added. The curd milk is then crushed into small granules and reheated. After that, the cheese mass is separated from the whey, heads are formed, and pressed. Distinctive feature Emmental cheese is that maturation takes place in various conditions. Heads of future cheese first
kept in brine for two days. Then they are removed from the brine and laid out on shelves in a room where a high level of humidity is maintained. After that, the cheese heads are moved to a warmer room, where the cheese ripens for a long time. At the final stage, the heads are moved back to the cold cellar. Large holes characteristic of this variety are formed inside the cheese. Where do they come from? Emmental at one of the stages ripens at a temperature of + 20`C - 23`C, which contributes to the formation of carbon dioxide, which is released during the fermentation of the product - hence the holes in the cheese.

It takes at least 16-20 months to get the highest quality Emmental cheese. Ripened cheese is a circle weighing from 75 to 130 kilograms. For the manufacture of one such head, about 800 liters are spent. cow's milk. The dense and elastic mass of cheese has a hard yellow crust. Real Emmental can be stored for decades, at least according to the manufacturers themselves. Of course, we are talking about a whole head, if you cut it, the storage time is reduced significantly. And how not to cut back when the cheese is so tasty. Emmental has a pronounced spicy-sweet taste with subtle nutty notes and the aroma of freshly cut herbs.

Traditionally, cheese is served with fruits - grapes, peaches, sweet and sour apples, plums, etc. in the form of canapes, in shortbread baskets, on toast.

Sandwiches with ham, fruits, sweet tomatoes are baked with cheese. A slice of cheese is placed on top so that it melts and forms a golden crust.

Cheese is added to Italian pizza. Grated Emmental cheese is sprinkled on pies and various vegetable casseroles.

Salads are prepared with cheese, combined with grapes, apples, nuts, chicken, trout, cucumbers, mushrooms, etc.

Julienne with mushrooms is prepared with cheese. The cheese is rubbed and sprinkled on the dish at the very end of cooking.
Emmental well emphasizes the taste of pumpkin, because. has a sweet aftertaste. Baked pumpkin with cheese and breadcrumbs - lovely dinner or a warm snack in a small amount. The pumpkin is cut thinly, salted and peppered, put in a row on a baking sheet, greased with oil. Sprinkle the pumpkin with breadcrumbs and grated Emmental cheese, bake until the cheese is soft and golden brown.

Italian pasta is prepared with Emmental cheese. Mix grated cheese walnuts, garlic, cream and butter. Boil the pasta until tender, mix with the cheese mixture and serve immediately. Cheese and butter melt on hot pasta, envelop it, the pasta is fragrant.

Baked with Emmental cheese open pies with ham, smoked meats, onions, mushrooms, chicken meat or fish. Meat products or fish are placed on a sand cake, sprinkled with fried onions or leeks on top and sprinkled with cheese. The cake is baked in the oven until golden brown.

Potatoes under a fragrant Emmental cheese crust are excellent. Boil the potatoes in their skins, cool, cut into slices. Put on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, pepper and cheese. baked in hot oven 10 minutes. Serve as a side dish with fish or chicken.
Under cheese crust baked pork chop. The meat is salted and peppered, smeared with sour cream and garlic, sprinkled with grated Emmental cheese and baked.

A traditional Swiss fondue dish is not complete without Emmental cheese. Fondue is French for melted. A mixture of cheeses, including Emmental, is melted in a catnelone - a special saucepan with the addition of dry, white wine and garlic over a fire. Today fondue is festive, gourmet dish However, several centuries ago this dish was prepared by shepherds, who after a few days had a crust of dried bread, a piece of cheese and a flask of white wine. In hot wine, heated in a cauldron, they melted cheese, dipped dry crackers into the cheese and ate.
Fondue in modern life has acquired an aristocratic look. Several varieties of cheese are added, the wine is the most noble, which is set off by the aroma of garlic (the pan is rubbed with garlic before cooking) and cherry tincture.
In addition to bread for fondue, fruits, boiled chicken, natural ham, fish, etc. are used. Emmental gives fondue an amazing, delicate flavor.

Article prepared Natalia Petrova, specially for the site

January 14th, 2016

To visit Switzerland - in a country where cheese is so loved that it can be served as a main course, in a country where it is extremely difficult to find a restaurant where cheese is not served, in a country where there is a “cheese express”, and cheese is also pampered in by plane - to go there and not see how cheese is made, you see, it’s simply unforgivable!

Since the first time I visited Switzerland, I have only thought about it. And then, one fine day, I received a cherished letter with the words: “Natalie, pack your suitcase, we are going to cook Swiss cheese!”

Before I continue to tell you about my experience of making cheese, I want to return with you once again to Switzerland - a cheese factory in the Emmental Valley.

Cheese followed us everywhere on this trip. It all started with breakfast on board the Swiss airline, when we flew from Moscow to Zurich. There was cheese in every restaurant we went to, it was present at every breakfast in every hotel where we stayed. Then a cheese factory. And even when we returned home, at dinner we were pleased with a small slice of Gruyère (and this is in economy class - SWISS Taste of Switzerland!).

(I've been lucky enough to fly business class a couple of times in my life and this was one of them - for breakfast poached egg with sauce and fried potatoes, croissant, cottage cheese dessert and cheese)!

When you start making cheese yourself, it becomes much more interesting to observe the production process.

Emmental cheese, or Emmentaler, is one of the most popular Swiss cheeses in our country. It is famous for its holes, soft sweetish and at the same time tart taste, which cannot be confused with anything, viscous texture. It is from this cheese (often paired with Gruyère) that fondue is made. They make cheese near Bern. And they have been brewing, by the way, for a long time: since the 13th century. Cooked from the freshest milk from alpine cows, which are fed with juicy alpine grass and hay. By the way, it takes about 10-12 liters to make 1 kg of cheese.

For the production of cheese, which is subjected to aging, rennet is indispensable. It is responsible for curdling milk and for the texture of cheese. But besides it, there is another important ingredient - sourdough containing "good" bacteria. Bacteria create the right environment, help the cheese to ripen and acquire the taste that we love so much.

It is ideal, of course, to come here, to Affoltern, in the summer, rent a house or apartment (, do not rush anywhere, but devote a few days to the valley (judge for yourself - that's how it is here in the summer!). You can take an e-bike and ride through the most beautiful places with a breeze , similar excursions are also organized there ( I already once talked about similar ones). However, with such exemplary transport, getting to the cheese village from Bern itself is not difficult. Accurate timing, a minimum of walking and transfers, a very comfortable bus (went I wish we had such in the villages!) - we are in Switzerland! And the stop is right where you need it - a stone's throw from the cheese factory. In general, in Switzerland, they say, there is transport to all places where you can and should visit. - you can’t get there - that means you don’t need to get there. Honestly, after a couple of trips, I, a fan of traveling by car, really thought about whether it was needed there;)

The cheese factory in Affoltern is good because here you can see both the modern cheese production process and the old one - on fire. And you can even cook cheese with your own hands and take it with you (however, you need to agree on a master class in advance, and, as far as I understand, the option with the possibility of making your own cheese is only possible for groups).

So, cook Emmental!

Pour fresh milk from alpine cows into a copper cauldron. We move the boiler to the fire (there is a tricky mechanism).
We heat the milk to a temperature slightly above room temperature, add the bacterial starter and enzyme, mix and leave for a while so that the milk curdles and turns into a jelly-like mass.

The resulting clot (jelly-like mass) is cut into pieces using a special tool (lyre) and heated again, but already stronger (something about 50 degrees). From this moment on, for an hour, you need to constantly intensively stir the mass with various devices: to break the cheese clot into small pieces and form a cheese grain.

it's not an easy thing to stir cheese, it's a man's job. But they say there is also a female cheese maker in the cheese factory who works at this demonstration cheese factory. Great woman! With this device on the right, I myself tried to interfere.

When the cheese grain is compacted and the whey drains better, we collect the cheese mass into a single lump with the help of a natural coarse cloth, wring it out a little, put it in a mold, wring it out again, put the load and leave it under pressure for some more time.

The whey goes to feed the piglets on the farm nearby. And we got a little.

Emmental is said to be one of the most difficult cheeses to make. The head of the cheese must be large, otherwise the cavities of gas that form holes will break through to the surface of the cheese. This means that the cheese can no longer ripen. The cheese, which is brewed in an old cheese factory, is still small, but on modern production- much more. How much do you think one such head weighs??? But this is not the only difficulty. Alpine milk! Since it does not undergo pasteurization, it enters the product in its original form, as it is, with all its flavors, which cannot but appear in taste even after ripening. I had a chance to try the freshest alpine milk.

This cheese factory is interesting because you can immediately see and compare the process of making cheese in the old way and modern. In modern production, of course, completely different volumes. Although the original product and technology are the same.

After the cheese has been loaded, it goes to the salt bath, where it spends several days. After the “spa”, the cheese rests: first, in one chamber - warm (about 20 degrees), it is in the heat that holes are formed, as well as the shape of the cheese (it ceases to be as flat as it was still floating in brine), then in another , a cooler chamber (about 12 degrees) - here it will continue to mature.

(there are three chambers on the top photo, ripening stages: the first is a salt bath, the second is warm, the third is cool). During maturation, the cheese is constantly rubbed. The shelves on which it is kept are perforated and rotate 180 degrees. After the cheese has been rubbed, the entire block is turned over so that the underside of the cheese is on top.

By the way, it turns out that Emmental, like Parmigiano, can be of different exposure. Although in Moscow I bought only one kind. Emmental is 5-10-30 months old. The latter has a very interesting taste and texture! It is denser, drier, more tart in taste, when broken, “breaks” characteristic of aged cheese appear, but at the same time, those same holes are preserved for which everyone loves Emmental so much.

Unfortunately, this is not visible in the photo, the light was heavy, and everyone had already worked out for cheese .... eyes burned, like Roquefort from the famous cartoon about rodents)

And of course, it is impossible to leave the cheese factory without trying the local fondue.
There is also a restaurant with a beautiful terrace at the cheese factory (one can only imagine what views open here in summer).

Excellent fondue! And a crazy giant meringue with ice cream and cream. Enough for the company.

Not far from the cheese factory, in case you still didn’t have enough meringue in the restaurant, there is a bakery where they sell meringue, as well as Bernese gingerbread. They also bake delicious donuts at the exit.

I would love to come back here in the summer! I will not show winter landscapes. And don't ask! And there are too many things!

Well... tempted? Plan a trip to the cheese factory!

Some of my impressions of Bern.
Everything you need to know about punctual Swiss transport is here.
There are 2 flights from Moscow to Zurich every day. By subscribing to the newsletter, you can, like me, receive information about promotions and track good prices. I don’t remember the last time I bought tickets through agencies and services, because I am subscribed to most major airlines and monitor the situation myself. It is more comfortable.
Everything related to excursions and master classes can be found on the website of the cheese factory.

PS So, I've been to Emmental, now I need to look at Gruyere (by the way, this is also somewhere near Bern). Maybe in summer?
Well, then I’ll get to France (I visited an Italian cheese factory, a Swiss one too ...)

Swiss cheeses are consistently in high demand among consumers from all over the world. This is explained by a favorable ecological situation, which allows feeding animals for subsequent receipt only with organic food.

Hence the excellent Emmental is obtained, the traditions of which are rooted in ancient times. Since then, elite cheese dairies still adhere to the classic canons, which guarantees ideal proportions with a balanced taste.

The deliciousness got its name due to the fact that experts from the town of Bern, located on the Emma River, were the first to produce it for mass consumption. The first mention of the now legendary product dates back to the 9th century, which once again proves the popularity of cheese at all times.

Smart Approach

In addition to following proven cooking patterns, the Swiss also pay great attention to technological compliance with safety and hygiene standards. Together, this allows us to bring out the cheese traditional for the Alpine land, which has become famous far beyond the borders of the Motherland.

But this popularity has a significant drawback. The point is that dishonest manufacturers are constantly trying to repeat the recipe. Fakes in the cheese market are quite a common thing.

To reduce the risks of the consumer to run into a dubious product under a promoted name, experts have come up with a separate classification for labeling. With its help, an exquisite Swiss dish is easier to distinguish from a fake. This is especially helped by the photo of the original, where you can see the features of the brand badge. It would be useful to clarify in advance the first digits in the barcode, by which it is easy to recognize where the imported products came from.

But it is safest to purchase such goodies on your own in private cheese dairies or branded shops of real Swiss factories while traveling through a beautiful country. There, the chances of running into a fake are almost zero.

Real cheese is made exclusively from cow's milk, which has passed the preliminary stage of pasteurization. Swindlers usually ignore this requirement, which automatically means a deterioration in the taste characteristics of the final product.

Most gourmets know that the Swiss craftsmen are renowned for their ability to brew hard varieties at a high level. The Emmental solution falls into just such a category. But in order to get an easily recognizable taste and recognizable structure, it will take about ten months of aging in special conditions. It is unlikely that it will be possible to repeat the entire rather complicated procedure at home, even with the proper skills. At best, it will be possible to produce an analogue according to a similar recipe, but with a different smell and aftertaste, which is explained by different raw materials.

Calorie content and subspecies

A head ready for sale can reach 130 kg, which is usually enough for a small family for the entire winter season. The only problem is that it is allowed to store only two years after the completion of full maturation. To do this, you will need to follow the modes:

• humidity;
• temperature;
• ventilation.

Due to this, repeat step by step instructions far from everyone can do it thoroughly, which is why the Emmental produced in other countries is similar to the original only in name and composition. At the same time, experts advise not to look for something to replace this delicacy, and not to regret buying the original in a specialized store.

Do not be afraid if there is some strange postscript on the price tags like, conte. This is just an indication of a specific subspecies of Emmental cheese. They are identical in every way except for the weight. Despite the fact that many countries are officially allowed to make this version of the table addition, gourmets prefer goods imported directly from Switzerland. If you can’t find such a solution on the counter, then you can search for products from:

• France;
• Austria;
• Finland;
• Germany.

If the available variations inspire distrust, then the culinary experts are advised to pay attention to, which is similar to its "older" Emmental brother. You can use it for fondue. No less tasty is the sauce, which is used at their own discretion by both the chefs of fashionable restaurants and efficient hostesses.

Real Emmental is better to eat in its pure form for the first time, and not to look for recipes where you need an already melted slice. It will delight you with its characteristic taste, which has sharp and spicy notes at the same time. Fruit and nut aftertaste adds piquancy.

Professional tasters say that such a slice should smell like freshly cut grass and be a little sour. But this is only appropriate in situations where the sample is taken immediately after the end of the ripening period right at the cheese factory.

Separately, it is worth recalling that this species is classified as a camp of fatty foods. Hence the rather high, which is more than 370 kcal per hundred grams of product. Despite this, goodness will not bring serious damage to the figure, if you know the measure. This is explained by the rich vitamin composition.