L’Etivaz AOC
Available from Saturday the 6th of September at Borough Market.

Etivaz is a traditional hard, alpine cheese, made from raw milk over a wood fire.  It is only produced in the warm months from May to October in the alpine Chalets of the Vaudoises Alps and Prealps in Switzerland.
In basic terms it is a form of Gruyère, but smaller in size – although L’Etivaz does not call itself a Gruyère!  It uses a similar cheesemaking process but as with all cheese making, it is the subtleties of the recipe, milk, and environment, which can deliver very different results.

Flavour
The cheese has a clean, aromatic, fruity flavour, with a slight smokiness, that varies according to the different alpine pastures that the cows graze on. Ivory yellow in colour, and slightly softer in texture from the traditional Gruyère, our cheeses are matured for a minimum of 14 months to reach the flavour that we like.

Production
The milk for L’Etivaz cheese comes exclusively from the Chalet’s cows and is processed on the same premises, thus giving the benefit of not transporting the milk and affecting the quality. The place where the cheese is made is adjacent to the cow-stable under the same roof. The cows feed exclusively on pasture grass and this botanic diversity gives the milk, and consequently the cheese, a distinctive flavour.
The entire summer production of L’Etivaz Cooperative is approximately 400 tonnes, or close to 20,000 wheels, – but this is the output from a number of small producers, not mass production by a few! 
KäseSwiss supplies the cheeses from only one Chalet. We selected this in Spring 2008 by tasting through a range of different cheesemakers’ productions from the summer of 2007. Tasting, comparing and selecting is one of the highlights of the job !


The Production Area
L’Etivaz AOC’s production area covers the Alpine region of the Vaudoises Alps, pastures located at altitudes of 1,000 to 2,000 metres in the counties of Château-d’Oex, Rougemont, Rossinière, Ormont-Dessous, Ormont-Dessus, Leysin, Corbeyrier, Villeneuve, Ollon and Bex. Currently the producers of L'Etivaz OAC operate over 130 alpine farms. They are essentially concentrated in the Pays-d Enhaut (Château-d’Oex, Rougemont and Rossinière) and the high Hongrin valley.
This geologically complex Prealpine massif retains masses of humid air from the Atlantic in its altitudes. Ideal for livestock, it boasts a great diversity of soils, the unique grasslands of which influence the taste of Alpine cheese.


Some extracts taken from L’Etivaz marketing information.