Appenzeller vs Gruyère
Appenzeller
Facts
- Milk
- Cow
- Texture
- Semi-hard
- Type
- Washed rind
- Rind
- Washed rind
- Country
- Switzerland
Appenzeller is a firm cow's milk cheese from Switzerland, in the family of Alpine wheels with small eyes. Makers wash the rind with a herbal brine while the cheese cures, and that wash gives a strong smell and a spicy edge. The paste is smooth, pale yellow, and dotted with a few small holes. A younger wheel tastes milder and nuttier, and a longer-aged wheel turns sharper and more robust. It is a cooking cheese and a board cheese, not a fresh slicing cheese.
Gruyère
Facts
- Milk
- Cow
- Texture
- Hard
- Type
- Pressed
- Rind
- Natural rind
- Country
- Switzerland
- Place
- Fribourg
- Status
- AOP
Gruyère is a hard cow's-milk cheese from western Switzerland, centered on the canton of Fribourg and a defined neighboring zone. A true Swiss Gruyère has few holes, or none.