Understanding the Craft of Real Emmental

Few cheeses are as instantly recognisable and as widely misunderstood as emmental. Most people know it only as the cartoon cheese, the one with the holes, reduced in the popular imagination to plastic-wrapped slices and a vague idea of Switzerland. The real thing is another creature entirely: a vast wheel of a cheese, made with real craft in the alpine valleys, its flavour nutty and fruity and far more complex than its reputation suggests. To understand emmental cheese properly is to appreciate one of the great achievements of traditional dairying.

The holes, it turns out, are the least interesting part of the story — though they are a good place to begin, because even they are the product of careful craft rather than accident.

Where the cheese comes from

Authentic emmental takes its name from the Emme valley in the Swiss canton of Bern, and the finest versions still carry a protected designation tying them to their place of origin. It begins, as all great cheese does, with the milk — here from cows grazing alpine pastures, giving the cheese its characteristic sweetness and depth. The milk is raw, unpasteurised, and it is this living quality that gives real emmental its layered, evolving flavour. Switzerland’s softer, seasonal counterpart is the subject of our piece on the craft of real vacherin, another cheese with a strong sense of place.

The scale is genuinely impressive. A single traditional wheel can weigh as much as a grown adult, requiring the milk of many cows and a copper vat of formidable size. This is cheesemaking as a communal, almost architectural undertaking, and it belongs to the same tradition of patient, place-bound craft that our primer on cheese ageing and affinage explores across the wider world of cheese.

The famous holes, explained

Those holes — properly called eyes — are not carved or moulded. They form as the cheese matures, when particular bacteria in the curd produce carbon dioxide that cannot escape the dense paste. Trapped, the gas forms bubbles, and as the cheese ages those bubbles grow into the round cavities we recognise. The size and distribution of the eyes are watched closely by the cheesemaker; they are a sign of a healthy, well-managed maturation, not a novelty.

The eyes in a wedge of emmental are a signature of good bacteria doing patient work in the dark. They are craft made visible.

Interestingly, cleaner modern milk has tended to produce fewer holes, and some makers now reintroduce traces of alpine hay dust to encourage the eyes to form as they traditionally did. It is a small, telling example of how much thought goes into a cheese most of us take entirely for granted.

Ageing and the flavour it builds

Emmental is aged for months, and the length of that ageing shapes everything. A younger wheel is mild, springy and sweet; a well-aged one — matured a year or more — develops a firmer body and a deeper, more savoury character, with fruity, almost nutty notes and a long finish. The real emmental craft lies in this maturation, the careful turning and monitoring of each wheel as it slowly becomes itself. For a cheese whose character comes from blue veining rather than eyes, our piece on the craft of real gorgonzola makes an instructive comparison.

Choosing the real thing

• Look for a protected designation of origin on the label, your best guarantee of traditional making.
• Seek out cheese made from raw milk, which carries far more flavour than pasteurised versions.
• Prefer a well-aged wheel if you want depth; younger emmental is milder and more supple.
• Buy from a counter that cuts from a whole wheel rather than pre-packed slices whenever you can.

How to enjoy it

Emmental is famously a melting cheese, the backbone of a proper fondue and a fine addition to any dish that wants a smooth, savoury richness. But a good aged wedge deserves a place on the board too, eaten simply with bread and perhaps a little fruit, where its subtler notes have room to speak. It pairs beautifully with a crisp white or a light red; those who enjoy such things will find our note on how to match wine and cheese a useful companion.

More than one Swiss giant

It is worth knowing that emmental is not the only great cheese of its kind, and that some confusion surrounds the family it belongs to. It is often mentioned in the same breath as Gruyère, its compatriot and frequent partner in a fondue, but the two are distinct. Gruyère is denser, without the famous holes, and tends towards a deeper, more assertive savouriness; emmental is springier, milder and sweeter, its character defined as much by texture as by taste. The best fondues, as it happens, often use both, each bringing something the other lacks.

There is also a distinction to draw between the genuine Swiss article and the many imitations made elsewhere, which borrow the name and the holes without the tradition. Industrially produced versions, made quickly from pasteurised milk on a large scale, can be perfectly pleasant in a sandwich but bear little resemblance to a properly matured wheel. The difference is not snobbery; it is simply the gulf between a mass-market product and a genuine piece of craft, and it is immediately apparent on the palate.

To taste a well-aged wheel of real emmental beside a supermarket slice is to understand at once how much the milk, the making and the months of ageing truly matter.

None of this is to dismiss the everyday cheese entirely — it has its uses, and not every occasion calls for the finest wheel. But if you have only ever known emmental as a mild, rubbery slice, it is worth seeking out the real thing at least once. A wedge cut from a properly matured wheel, eaten with good bread and a little thought, will reset your sense of what the cheese can be.

Treat it as you would any serious cheese — brought to room temperature, cut with care, stored well — and it repays the attention. Our guide to how to choose and store cheese at home covers the practicalities. Emmental deserves better than its cartoon reputation, and to taste a proper aged wheel is to understand why. For more cheeses worth knowing on their own terms, the rest of our dining and drinks writing is the place to keep exploring.