Cheese Database

Berner Alpkäse vs Gruyère

Berner Alpkäse

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Hard
Type
Pressed
Rind
Washed rind
Country
Switzerland
Place
Bern

Berner Alpkäse is a hard cow's milk cheese from the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. Herders make it on high pastures while the cows eat summer grass and alpine herbs. The milk is raw, and the wheels have no eyes, unlike many other Swiss cheeses. A younger wheel is firm and full. The very dry form, called Berner Hobelkäse, is shaved into thin curls because a knife will not cut it cleanly.

Gruyère, field guide plate
Gruyère, photographed

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.