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Cheese Tour
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SWITZERLAND BY RAIL - REGIONS - FRIBOURG
LA MAISON DU GRUYÈRE
Gruyère Cheese Dairy Factory Tour
The
village of Gruyeres is now famous for its cheese making factory tour,
one of the sights to visit on the Chocolate Train rail tour. Gruyere
Cheese,
while being Swiss, is not the one with the holes (thar’s Emmenthal),
but a nutty flavored cream-colored cheese used especially in fondue (combined
with Vacherin), sliced, or melted atop new potatoes in the traditional
Swiss Alpine dish of Raclette. This delicious cheese has been produced
for centuries around the medieval town of Gruyères, from where
the product takes its name. The producers of Gruyere cheese got together
and opened the Maison du Gruyère demonstration factory in 2000,
located directly across from the town rail station, now one of the most
popular tourist attractions
in the area, usually combined with the Gruyere Castle and the nearby
Nestle-Cailler Chocolate Factory
The “tour guide” at the Maison du Gruyère is a cow,
named Cherry. While you don’t exactly see her, she explains in
the audio guide the story of Gruyere Cheese.
The self-guided tour begins with sounds of cow bells in the high pastures,
and exhibits
of the aromas of the herbs and grasses of the Alpine meadows which make
up the dairy cow’s diet. The tour moves upstairs to the production
viewing area of the factory floor behand glass. The milk is delivered
twice a day from regional producers and mixed in great stirring
vats with
a
secret
formula
cheese
culture,
then after curing has begun is poured into forms and pressed into wheel
rounds.
If your visit is at a time when the work is done for the day, a movie
on TV screens explains the process. The cheese rounds are soaked in salt
baths to form the rind, then taken to the maturing cellars, where a look
through glass into the automated storage cellar where the cheese is aged
is the last part of the tour, which takes about 45 minutes, depending
how much cheese making you want to witness.
The Maison du Gruyère Visitor Centre has a store where the cheeses and other products are for sale, in case the little packet of sample Gruyere Cheese which comes with the tour isn’t enough. The Le Fromagerie Restaurant offers a real fondue lunch, with a view of the mountains above the outdoor terrace.
The Gruyère Cheese Dairy Tour is open daily from 9am to 7pm. Cheese making happens from 9am to 11am and 12:30 to 2:30pm. Admission for adults is 7 CHF, Students and Seniors 6 CHF with a Family Ticket for 12 CHF (2 adults + children up to 12). Group packages are available which includes a dish in the restaurant as well as the tour visit
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