Sbrinz - Käserei Oggier
This semi-unpronounceable cheese is Switzerlands answer to Parmesan. The name is shrouded in mystery and not a little myth-making but the product almost certainly predates the Italian version.
Production is strictly controlled with an AOC designation. Only cows milk, grass fed in summer, hay in winter, goes into the cheese with the addition of rennet and salt. It is produced and matured in the same locality as the animals, limited to various regions in the traditional heartland of Switzerland, Innerschweiz, the land of the four cantons.
The cheese is available in various stages of maturity and is often used as simple party food or, like parmesan, as an addition to pasta. Fully mature it develops all of the character one expects of a serious cheese. This chunk, from Käserei Oggier, in Willisau is 4 1/2 years old and simply beautiful. Sharpness combined with creaminess and a subtle evocation of alpine meadows.
Further info here:
Info on the Sprinz is greatly welcome.
(currently 6-5 to Nadal).