L'Etivaz AOP
Product description
Diameter of the loaves 30 to 65 cm
Weight of the loaves 10 to 38 kg
Hard cheese
Enjoyed as sliced cheese or in form of sliced cheese rolls
Registration:
02.03.2000
contact
Coopérative des Producteurs
de Fromages d‘Alpage « L’Etivaz »
1660 L’Etivaz
T 026 924 62 81
cooperative(at)etivaz-aop.ch
www.etivaz-aop.ch
letivaz.aop
etivaz
Geographical Region
The production and processing zone includes the summer pastures, the production sites of which are situated at an altitude between 1'000 and 2'000 m in the following municipalities: Château-d'Oex, Rougemont, Rossinière, Ollon, Villeneuve, Ormont-Dessus, Ormont- Dessous, Corbeyrier, Leysin and Bex. All cheeses are refined in the cellars of the "Coopérative des producteurs de fromage d'alpage L'Etivaz".
Production
The L'Etivaz PDO is an Alpine cheese and manufactured only during the summer pasture period from 10th May to 10th October. The roughage fed to the milk cows consists uniquely in natural Alpine grass and herbs. The food quality influences the milk aroma and thus that of the cheese. The l'Etivaz PDO is manufactured from raw milk according to the local, traditional process in the copper kettle. It is heated exclusively over the wood fire. The cheese loaves remain at least one week at the summer pasture where they are regularly salted and scrubbed before they are brought to the cellar in L'Etivaz. During the maturing process each loaf develops its characteristic aromas, marked by the Alpine flora as well as by a typical, leight smokey note. The cheese loaves mature for at least 5 months on spruce board. The most beautiful samples are dried in a storage shed with natural climate for three years and are then refined to „Hobelkäse“.
History
The manufacture of Hartkäse (hard cheese) in the region of Pays-d'Enhaut is documented for the first time in the 12th century. The oldest emblems of mountain cheese producers still active today can be traced back to the 17th century. Since the 18th century the district of Pays-d'Enhaut has specialised in the manufacture of cheese intended for marketing outside the production zone. The mountain cheese producers created in 1934 a maturing and marketing cooperation in order to be independent and market their product themselves. By voluntarily sticking to a strict manufacture regulation, the producers has made L'Etivaz PDO a popular Alpine cheese.