Gruyere might be the perfect multipurpose cheese. The novice cheese tasters in my Basic Cooking classes adore it on cheese day. They sniff, raise an eyebrow, nibble, make funny faces, then fall in love. What an awesome thing to watch.
Gruyere could be called the "other" Swiss cheese. The more familiar Emmentaler has the big holes and rubbery texture. Gruyere is very different. The flavor is big enough and the aroma pungent enough to know you've stepped somewhere new, yet it stops just shy of being stinky or dauntingly sharp. Beefy and nutty, firm yet creamy, softer than a cheddar yet sweeter and deeper in character, there isn't one single job that Gruyere can't handle.
It holds its own on sandwiches or in creamy dishes; it's an integral component of Swiss fondue; it's amazing on its own with sausage, fruit or crackers; it's what you melt over French onion soup.
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