If you like cheese — and really, who doesn’t? — you’ve probably picked up a package of Emmi Le Gruyère before. But chances are you had no idea that before being packaged and transported across the Atlantic, the cheese was carefully ripened in a cave within a Swiss mountain.
Kaltbach Cave, which was formed from a prehistoric seabed, is found within Santenberg mountain a few miles from Lucerne, Switzerland. And it just so happens the cave’s cool, subterranean conditions are just right for ripening cheese. Around 156,000 wheels of cheese — mainly gruyère and emmentaler — are stored in the cave, which stretches for over a mile.
Kaltbach Cave’s perfect climate — 50 degrees year-round — is ideal for aging cheese, and the river that runs through the cave keeps humidity levels at around 96 percent. In addition, the cave’s natural climate and mineral deposits provide a unique aging process that gives Emmi cheeses a distinct taste, smell, and the company’s signature dark brown rind. Each wheel of cheese is kept in the cave for a minimum of nine months until it has the right aroma and texture.
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