Challerhocker Cheese

Challerhocker is a gorgeous Swiss Alpine cheese that draws inspiration from its older cousins like Emmental but is part of a new wave of modern-yet-traditional Swiss cheeses. The name translates roughly to “sitting in the cellar,” which gives you an idea as to its lengthy aging process but also provides an eating suggestion: You’re going to want to be all alone with this one, ideally sitting down.

Challerhocker is made by famed cheesemaker Walter Rass near Zurich, with milk that’s delivered twice-daily from within a one-mile radius of the dairy. These cows spend all day grazing in lush Alpine pastures, and those grasses, flowers, and herbs all influence the flavor of the cheese, which is aged for just under a year (a fair amount longer than most other Alpine cheeses) on wooden planks. It’s washed with wine and spices and then turned and brushed with a saltwater brine daily, and this TLC results in a stunning, sliceable, umami-rich cheese with a rich, nutty, caramel-y flavor with notes of butterscotch, onion, and almond. It’s dense and silky, and is great on a sandwich, in a grilled cheese, atop a burger, melted into a fondue, or on a cheese board with figs, dates, and caramelized onions.

• Raw cow’s milk cheese
• Awards: The top two spots in a local competition among Appenzeller cheesemakers for 15 of the last 20 years
• Pairings: Oaky chardonnay, fortified wines like port and sherry, dark beers like brown ale or Belgian ale, robust red wines like Nero D’Avola, tart ciders