Article Archive - January 28, 2005

Swiss cheese’s popularity grows, more products offered

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Cheese Market News’ new monthly cheese spotlight. Each month, CMN will profile a different cheese in these pages, giving our readers a comprehensive look at production, marketing and sales of a particular cheese, as well as any other interesting details we can unearth.
We hope this feature helps to give readers an even more complete view of the dairy industry and perhaps an idea or two for their businesses. So without further ado, meet this month’s featured cheese: Swiss cheese.

MADISON, Wis. — Swiss cheese, like many other cheeses, is seeing a growing popularity because of the more sophisticated palette of American consumers. Products featuring Swiss also are expanding to meet consumer demand.

Swiss cheese is showing up in just about everything these days and even more unique offerings are probably around the corner as companies strive to meet consumer preferences for fresh, gourmet, healthy and convenient products, says the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB).

The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) notes that Swiss cheese is a “superior cheese for use in soups, sauces, casseroles and hot or cold sandwiches.”

USDEC continues that shredded or sliced Swiss melts easily, while Baby Swiss also melts well and is easily shredded or sliced.

Nonetheless, the cheese invented by the Swiss is best known for its holes, or eye formations.

• History

Swiss, called Emmentaler in Switzerland, dates back to the 15th century and was created in the Canton of Bern in the Emmental Valley of Switzerland, which accounts for its native name “Emmentaler,” according to the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research’s (CDR) World Cheese Exchange Data Base.

By the mid-17th century, the Swiss, or Emmentaler, industry was well developed in Switzerland and cheesemakers began exporting the cheese, CDR continues.

“Only the best cheese is exported and it is commonly called ‘Switzerland Swiss,’” CDR says.

However, cheeses similar to Swiss are produced under a variety of names including Bellunese, Formaggio Dolce, Fontina, Fontine d’Aosta, Traanen and Allgauer Emmentaler, CDR reports.

Another Swiss-invented cheese with holes is Gruyere, which CDR describes as slightly softer in texture and sharper in taste than Swiss with sparsely-scattered holes the size of peas.

In addition, a popular variation of Swiss cheese, Baby Swiss, was created in the United States and is produced from whole cow’s milk, unlike traditional Swiss, which is made from partially-skimmed cow’s milk.

Baby Swiss cheese was developed by Alfred Guggisberg. Alfred Guggisberg began cheesemaking in the Swiss Alps and spent time making cheese in Europe before moving to the United States in 1947, when he began cheesemaking in Ohio, according to Guggisberg Cheese Inc., Millersburg, Ohio.

Working for Doughty Valley Cheese Co., now Guggisberg Cheese, Alfred Guggisberg looked to develop a new cheese that would appeal to both young and old, the company says. After years of experimenting, the new cheese is produced in a smaller wheel size and features a distinctively smooth and mild taste.

Upon seeing the cheese, Alfred Guggisberg’s wife, Margaret, named the cheese “Baby Swiss” because in comparison to the larger traditional Swiss cheese wheels, the new cheese looked like a “baby next to its parent.”

• Swiss production

The “parent” Swiss is a hard pressed-curd cheese with eyes that develop in the curd as the cheese ripens. These holes often range from 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter and from 1 to 3 inches apart.

Swiss normally is ivory in appearance. Baby Swiss is pale yellow in appearance with a “soft, silky texture with small eye holes,” USDEC says.

Production of Swiss requires control and is noted in CDR’s data base as one of the most difficult kinds of cheese to make.

“Control of the quality and composition of the milk, propagation and use of the essential bacterial starters, and the details of manufacture are complicated procedures that require the service of a skilled cheesemaker,” CDR says.

U.S. cheese producers are increasingly making Swiss cheese with production through November 2004 totaling 254.7 million pounds, according to USDA preliminary estimates. This is a 6 percent increase from 240.8 million pounds produced during the same period in 2003.

In addition to Switzerland and the United States, Swiss cheese is made in many other countries including France, Denmark, Germany, Bavaria, Italy, Austria, Finland, Russia and Argentina.

U.S. imports of Swiss and Emmentaler cheese with eye formation also are on the increase.

In 2004, it is estimated by USDA that imports of Swiss and Emmentaler cheese with eye formation, subject to licensing requirements, totaled 64.7 million pounds, up 6 percent from 60.7 million pounds the same period a year earlier. High-tier Swiss and Emmentaler imports for 2004 are estimated at 36,848 pounds, up 66 percent from 22,167 pounds the same period a year earlier.

While Swiss or Emmentaler cheese originates from Switzerland, the European Union (EU) is the No. 1 exporter of Swiss and Emmentaler to the United States.

In 2004, the EU exported 38.2 million pounds of Swiss cheese to the United States, up 9 percent from 34.9 million pounds in 2003.

Among EU member countries, France saw the largest increase in Swiss-type cheese imports to the United States in 2004.

Richard Koby, general counsel, Cheese Importers Association of America, suggests France saw the greatest increase in exports to the United States because its Emmenthal is noted for its quality and reputed as one of the best Emmenthals to buy.

Norway and Switzerland exports to the United States combined for a total of 22.4 million pounds in 2004, up 5 percent from 21.3 million pounds in 2003.

Although Swiss- and French-produced Swiss-type cheese is noted for quality, Dan Carter, manager, Dairy Business Innovation Center (DBIC), says that domestic Swiss is starting to receive recognition for its quality that once was reserved for Swiss produced in Switzerland.

• Usage

The versatility and relatively widespread use of Swiss cheese as an ingredient is obvious when you look at the many products containing Swiss cheese on the market, WMMB also says.

According to WMMB data, use of natural Swiss was estimated at 217.6 million pounds in 2002. Estimated use of Baby Swiss for 2002 was 22.1 million pounds and processed Swiss usage was estimated at 67.8 million pounds.

WMMB’s “Wisconsin Cheese- cyclopedia” further suggests that it was American cheesemakers, not Swiss, who modernized Swiss production.

“About 50 years ago, the only way to protect Swiss wheels as they ripened was to allow a hard rind to form,” according to the Cheesecyclopedia. “The advent of plastic packaging, which keeps moisture in but allows carbon dioxide to escape, made it possible to produce rindless Swiss cheese in blocks. Rindless blocks were developed for better yield in foodservice; retailers appreciate the higher yield and ease of cutting.”

Richard Guggisberg, president, Guggisberg Cheese, and son of Alfred Guggisberg, also notes that fast-food chains are starting to look at natural Swiss cheese. The big thing with processed cheese was portion control, Guggisberg says, but he notes that there now is more portion control for natural cheese due to advances in slicing technology.

Sixty-eight percent of natural Swiss was sold at retail in 2002, with 27 percent in foodservice and 5 percent in food processing.

WMMB further reports that the food processing sector accounted for 43 percent of processed Swiss, while foodservice accounted for 33 percent and the retail sector accounted for 24 percent.

Baby Swiss, on the other hand, is more of a specialty cheese which is becoming more mainstream.

The retail sector accounted for 72 percent of Baby Swiss volume usage and the foodservice industry used 28 percent of Baby Swiss, WMMB reports.

• Trends and innovations

Americans are demanding cheeses such as Swiss in specialty cheese markets and restaurants, says DBIC’s Carter.

Typical applications for both Swiss and Baby Swiss include soups, sauces, fondues, salads, sandwiches, casseroles, U.S.-type pizzas and quiches, USDEC says.

However, WMMB notes several products featuring Swiss have been introduced during the past year and are being positioned as gourmet or made available in specialty stores, including a frozen Swiss cheese and bacon quiche.

Other unique products that use Swiss include organic cracker-like breads in flavor combinations such as sunflower seed with Swiss cheese and pumpkin seed with Swiss cheese, which are low in calories, low in carbohydrates and high in fiber, and a Swiss with portobello mushrooms refrigerated cheese spread.

WMMB adds that Swiss cheese is being included in other convenient and versatile products as well.

For a quick sandwich, Baby Swiss and sliced smoked ham are individually packaged within a re-sealable container, the organization says.

And ready-to-cook entrees themselves aren’t new but different varieties and flavors continually are being introduced, WMMB says, noting a recent introduction is beef pinwheel steaks with Swiss cheese.

CMN

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