At some point in every cheese lover's life, they find themselves on a mission to track down the best gruyère cheese in the world. Once you've sampled the incredible complexity and the nutty, earthy flavor of a great gruyère, all you can think about is finding another chunk that's just as good – or better.
When you're looking for the best gruyère cheese, you can certainly look for the original stuff made in Switzerland. Or you can look for alpine-style cheese from Wisconsin that's every bit as tasty, textured, and melty as the cheese from across the pond. Our cheesemakers use the same old-world techniques and the same enormous copper vats to produce one of the best gruyère cheese alternatives you'll find anywhere. Now, anyone seeking out the best gruyère cheese can grab a bit of alpine-style from Wisconsin and consider it mission accomplished.
We invite you to take a peek at our website to meet our alpine-style cheeses, along with all the other varieties of Wisconsin's finest. Search our index to find the best recipes for dishes that gruyère and alpine-style cheese shine in, like instant pot mac and cheese. Or scroll down for our tips on pairing gruyère and alpine-style cheese with food and beverage.
Alpine-style cheeses like gruyère are amazing melters – we love to add them to gratins, quiches, soufflés, and savory tarts, as well as the classic dishes like fondue and Wisconsin style French Onion Soup. Some may say that gruyère or alpine-style variety may also be the best cheese for mac and cheese. On a cheese board, try pairing your gruyère with a bread that has a touch of sweetness and some freshly roasted and salted nuts.
For beverages, the best gruyère cheese or alpine-style cheese pairings tend to be big, rustic drinks. Think bock beers or Scotch and Belgian ales. When popping corks, try cabernet sauvignon, malbec, merlot, chianti, or ruby or a tawny port. Brown spirits like bourbon and brandy are among the best gruyère cheese pairings when you have a hankering for the harder stuff.
Originating around the town of Gruyère, Switzerland, gruyère is a semi-hard cheese made from cow's milk. It has a creamy and nutty flavor when younger and a more complex and nuanced pallet as it ages. Like many alpine cheeses, gruyère is characterized by small holes or "eyes" that are made by bubbles of gas released by bacteria as the cheese is formed. Gruyère is an excellent melting cheese and one of the traditional ingredients of cheese fondue and the Croque monsieur sandwich.
Other mountain cheeses like emmentaler, comté, jarlsberg, raclette or alpine-style cheeses can fill in for gruyère, depending on the recipe.
Gruyère is made by coagulating cow's milk and pressing the curd into molds where the cheese is compressed for a period of time and immersed in a salt bath. The wheels of cheese are washed, then aged in a special aging room for several months. Some gruyère cheeses are made with a cave-aged cheese technique, where the cheese aging process occurs in natural caves. Gruyère is typically aged from 5- to 18- months before it is ready for consumption.
Alpine-style cheese is any cheese that is produced with the same techniques of cheeses like gruyère, emmentaler, comté, and other cheeses made in the Alps of central Europe.
Get Pairing Ideas, Cheese Recipes, Cheese Facts, Wisconsin Cheese Awards delivered straight to your inbox.
We know what you're thinking: how can alpine-style cheese from Wisconsin possibly match up with the best gruyère cheese made in Switzerland?
It's pretty simple, really. It starts with cheesemaking traditions in Wisconsin that date back hundreds of years. Then there's the world-class milk produced in our famed dairyland. And our ingenious cheesemakers who rank among the best in the world at what they do. The result is cheese that has won more cheesemaking awards than any other state in the country and any other country on earth – Switzerland included.
So, next time you're seeking out the best gruyère cheese you can find, try an alpine-style cheese from Wisconsin and see what a little American ingenuity can do.
Craving award-winning aged cheddar, pining for parmesan, or searching for a new cheese to try? The world’s best cheese is just a click away! Explore our directory of Wisconsin cheesemakers and retailers who offer online cheese shopping and get cheese shipped right to your door. What are you waiting for?
Cheese
Recipes
Search
More