Vacherin Returns : Swiss Vacherin Mont D'Or from Vincent Tyrode

Vincent Tyrode, one of our favourite Gruyere producers, makes Vacherin from the third week of August to the middle of April.  Just as in France there is a link between Comte production and Vacherin Mont D’Or during the winter season, on the Swiss side of the Jura mountains the same link exists between Gruyere and Vacherin.  The Mont D’Or itself, named because of the way the sunlight lights its cliff edges at the summit, straddles France and Switzerland and the cheeses are close neighbours too.

We have been buying Gruyere from Vincent Tyrode from our very first days at Borough Market.  He owns a dairy, shop and maturing caves in the village of Auberson in Vaud, Switzerland.  In 2001, when he began to make cheese, he rented his dairy. In 2010 he was able to buy it, and he built the caves in 2012.  He works with 15 milk producers all of whom farm on a very small scale.  Average herd size amongst his suppliers will be about 35 cows with some farms observing the Alpage and milking in the fields during the summer.  For comparison, the average herd size in the UK is over 200 cows.

This scale of farming is profitable in Switzerland because, acknowledging the importance of milk to the country’s economy, the industry pays its farmers well for their milk.  Vincent himself makes a point of paying a good price and incentivises the farmers to produce the quality of milk he needs.  He tests twice a month for cleanliness, fat content and what he describes as ‘fromageabilité’.  This means suitability for cheesemaking, a healthy dose of lactic acid bacteria naturally occurring in the milk.  This forms the basis for their milk price.  He visits each farm twice a year with a bottle of wine to do the milking with them, keeping relationships cordial and being able to check up at the same time.

We filmed milking, make and maturation of Vincent’s Gruyere in 2016 and visited one of his producers, Jean Martin.  He has 35 cows and milks using a portable machine in a stone barn.  Each milking cow is allotted a place in the barn during their first lactation which will remain theirs throughout their milking life.  This is then labelled with the cow’s name and date of birth.  They know where to stand, move into place quickly and the milking proceeds in a relaxed manner with the cows happily munching on hay and cereal as Jean moves from animal to animal with the milking clusters.  There aren’t huge lengths of pipework or an echoing huge milking parlour.  This is obviously great for the animals but also for the milk.  A huge amount of the natural microflora of milk is influenced by how it is milked.  Without an extensive pipework system, the naturally occurring lactic acid bacteria are better preserved.  The Martins’ farm is representative of the scale of farms supplying Fromagerie Tyrode and the attention they can give to each individual animal.

One of the things we like about working with Vincent is that he is extremely quality focussed.  Not only does he work actively for amazing milk quality, but he also chooses to make up his own rennet using extract he dilutes himself.  This gives him more control over the concentration of extract to water than he would have if he used an already liquid rennet.

To make his Vacherin, evening milk is collected and stored overnight at 10C or below.  Morning milk is added the following day.  It is heated for thermisation, a treatment that is less severe than pasteurising.  Swiss Vacherins are usually pasteurised so this is testament to the quality of his milk.  Then after cooling, cultures are added and the milk is ripened.  The carefully dosed rennet is added and once set, the curd is left to settle before being stirred and rested during which time a skin can form over the particles of curd.  This is key to maintaining texture in the matured cheese which is gloriously silky and oozing.

Following this, the cheeses are moulded, pressed, turned and wrapped in their thick spruce bands.  The thickness of spruce bands is another example of attention to quality.  A good thick band of spruce cambium contributes just the right amount of resinous flavour when the cheese is matured.  For up to 25 days the cheeses are matured out of their boxes and on wooden boards.  This is longer than most other Vacherins and again allows for a greater depth of flavour.

In summary, what makes these Vacherins so special?

1.        Amazing quality of milk.

2.        Exacting and attentive cheesemaking.

3.        Care and attention when stirring the curd, allowing it rest time.

4.        Generously thick bands of spruce cambium.

5.        Longer maturation out of the box.

The result is a rosy-rinded cheese that appears beautifully glossy in the paste when cut.  It tastes sweetly creamy with the perfect amount of spruce and a luxurious texture. 

Vacherin season is back folks.  Celebrate its return and the amazing cheeses of Vincent Tyrode.