# 9 year old swiss cheese is very tasty! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [June 8, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652 "2018-06-08T00:41:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/21 "2018-06-08T21:04:51Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > how does one make a personal cheese aging setup? I would think “buy your cheese already aged, from someone who already took care of this” is probably the right answer. But… I guess you’d need a room with strict, accurate control of temperature and humidity. ETA: Including any industrial refrigerator that gives you such control. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2018, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/22 "2018-06-09T23:19:26Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Hm, putting some numbers on it, if you consume an ounce a day of 20-year-cheese, and you buy it fresh, you’d only need to keep about a 500 pound rotating stock of it. That wouldn’t even need a dedicated room (or at least, not a very large one), though you might still want to dedicate a room to it anyway, for purposes of climate control and cleanliness. And plenty of people devote an equivalent space in their home to various hobbies, and cheese-eating is no odder than many other hobbies. > > Of course, you can buy it already aged, but that just means that somebody else is setting aside space for storage on your behalf. It amounts to the same thing. > [@nightshadea](#): > > how does one make a personal cheese aging setup? I’m sure QtM has one. He’s a doctor after all so he must have secret lair.:eek: Subterranean, climate controlled where he’s attempting to corner the market on aged cheese and perform who knows what experiments.😃 I’ve tried to work, “Aged Cheddar” into the lyrics, “Goldfinger” but other than matching up the syllables and and slight rhyme, I got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/23 "2018-06-10T00:30:42Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > I’m sure QtM has one. He’s a doctor after all so he must have secret lair.:eek: Subterranean, climate controlled where he’s attempting to corner the market on aged cheese and perform who knows what experiments.😃 Yeah, pretty much. It is partially below ground, but the local water table keeps me from going down too deep. > [@](#): > > I’ve tried to work, “Aged Cheddar” into the lyrics, “Goldfinger” but other than matching up the syllables and and slight rhyme, I got nothing. Sharp cheddar It’s the cheese, the cheese with the bracing taste A complex taste Such an aged cheddar Beckons me to enter my cave of curd Just say the word ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/24 "2018-06-10T01:17:17Z")
A brilliant prison doctor with an almost ritualistic love of old cheese and their slicing implements . . . are you **sure** you’re not the protagonist of an FX procedural? ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/25 "2018-06-10T01:35:05Z")
Is aged cheddar “sharp?” I ask because if I’m eating regular non-aged cheddar mild/medium are inedible and sharp is OK if extra-sharp is not available. So as someone who only eats the sharpest regular cheddar, would I like elder cheese? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/26 "2018-06-10T01:59:01Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > Is aged cheddar “sharp?” I ask because if I’m eating regular non-aged cheddar mild/medium are inedible and sharp is OK if extra-sharp is not available. So as someone who only eats the sharpest regular cheddar, would I like elder cheese? Sharpness is a quality that increases with age. If you like sharp cheddar, and you find sharper is better, then you would most likely enjoy an elder cheddar. Go online and order some double digit cheddar and see what you think. Or shop around locally and see if you can’t find at least something that’s over 4 or 5 years of age, and see if it’s to your taste. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/27 "2018-06-10T02:03:53Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > A brilliant prison doctor with an almost ritualistic love of old cheese and their slicing implements . . . are you **sure** you’re not the protagonist of an FX procedural? Maybe I will be, one day. Ritualistic? Well, maybe. I do carry on the family tradition known as the _Cheese of Farewell_, passed down to me from my father. Back then, we had to make do with an elder cheddar that was only 10 years old. Yet it served the ritual well, and there was enough of it to make a nice grilled cheese sandwich, too! ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/28 "2018-06-10T05:46:06Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > And by Spar, I really mean [Bjørklund](http://www.bjorklund-1925.no/index.php/en/), of course! After your tip, and seeing the pictures online, I had the luck today to pick up a fairly plain one of these for cheap at a thrift store. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/29 "2018-06-10T05:57:23Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > Is aged cheddar “sharp?” I ask because if I’m eating regular non-aged cheddar mild/medium are inedible and sharp is OK if extra-sharp is not available. So as someone who only eats the sharpest regular cheddar, would I like elder cheese? All cheddar is aged - if you didn’t age it, it wouldn’t be cheddar. Mild is aged for the shortest time, extra-sharp or extra-old (means the same thing) for the longest (among what’s usually available in a supermarket cheese case). Those are aged for a smaller or larger number of months. It’s essentially just a continuum from youngest to oldest, though with cheeses aged much longer than what’s called “extra-old” being available in specialty stores but not usually supermarkets. And then there’s “how well was this cheese made, before they started the aging process?” - which of course contributes a great deal to the finished product. If you make huge batches of let’s call it economy-grade cheese, you don’t bother aging it for years, because who wants expensively aged economy-grade cheese anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/30 "2018-06-10T17:46:39Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > All cheddar is aged - if you didn’t age it, it wouldn’t be cheddar. Oh, I don’t know. I’ve had fresh cheddar curds, just a few hours old. They have the hallmark cheddar flavor, and the fresh curd squeak. They just lack the bite that aging gives, but are full of the salt tang and mouth feel of new creation. I’d not call that an aged product, but it’s most assuredly a cheddar product. The fresh curds of swiss or muenster or havarti taste quite different from the cheddar. But they’re delicious, too. They’re all good curds, **David**! ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/31 "2018-06-10T19:18:51Z")
A few years ago I was in rural Wisconsin where many small towns still have one or more family cheese factories, with small stores attached. My first 20 year old cheddar. Qadgop does not exaggerate. By the way “cheddar” does not refer to the aging process but to the curding process (“cheddaring”). Originally of course, the name came from the town of Cheddar in Somerset, where the limestone caves of the Mendip Hills provide natural aging chambers. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/32 "2018-06-10T20:00:04Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > A few years ago I was in rural Wisconsin where many small towns still have one or more family cheese factories, with small stores attached. My first 20 year old cheddar. Which did you visit? I love wandering Wisconsin’s byways and paying a call on the small factories. Sadly, we continue to lose them at an alarming rate. One of my old favorites, Beechwood Cheese, is now an iffy operation opening only when there’s enough demand to merit starting up the equipment. And to think they used to be the official cheese supplier for Midwest Airlines (another great lost WI institution). ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/33 "2018-06-10T20:37:18Z")
The 20 year old cheddar was at Widmer’s in Theresa. A great place to visit. My grandparents’ farm was outside Fond du Lac, but they sold it before I was born and moved to California after my parents relocated there. Love that part of Wisconsin. Just a beautiful, underrated part of the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/34 "2018-06-10T20:58:42Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > The 20 year old cheddar was at Widmer’s in Theresa. A great place to visit. > > My grandparents’ farm was outside Fond du Lac, but they sold it before I was born and moved to California after my parents relocated there. > > Love that part of Wisconsin. Just a beautiful, underrated part of the USA. Ah, Widmer’s in Theresa. They make great cheeses. It’s not horribly far from my home but not part of my usual circuit of cheese shops to call on. But an old cheddar from Widmer’s is always to be treasured. I believe I have a 7 year old sample of their work in my collection at the moment, awaiting the right moment. It is a beautiful area, with all the kettles and eskers and drumlins and moraines left over from the glaciers. Next time you’re in the area, let me know if you’d like tips about a few other cheese outlets not too far from Fond du Lac. St. Cloud and Plymouth have a few good stores, and Plymouth actually has the Cheese Capitol of the World museum, interactive center, and snack bar! ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/35 "2018-06-11T15:36:06Z")
Oh I will! Not that I am planning a trip at the moment. Still, the Cheese Capital of the World museum and interactive center would be a powerful draw! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2018, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/36 "2018-06-26T21:31:16Z")
Sadly, Cedar Valley no longer has the 9 year old swiss, nor any plans to acquire any more. Apparently it was a one-off windfall, from which I benefitted. At the moment they have nothing older than about 18 months, and my other sources can’t find swiss older than 3 years (which is pretty good for swiss). I’m still enjoying what I’ve got, though. I’ll stretch it out, but not so long that the cheese goes moldy now that it’s opened. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2018, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/37 "2018-06-26T23:41:35Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > [Cedar Valley](http://www.cedarvalleycheesestore.com/) carries a wide variety of older cheddars, up to 19 years old at times, although their online store only is offering up to 13 years old. They’ve got one of the best selections of cheeses in my area, and they do ship but caution about mailing cheese in warm weather. I don’t know why their website is not showing their older swiss stuff. They are showing the Deppeler’s aged swiss which is quite nice but lacks the liquid and crystals. > > [Schultz cheese haus](https://www.schultzscheese.com/product/aged-cheddar-white) also does mail order and has a nice range, currently offering 15 year old white cheddar. But their oldest swiss on the website is only 2 years old. > > There are other, smaller cheese factories I frequent near me, but their selection is not so varied. I have now ordered aged cheese with express shipping and am looking forward to trying it. Thank you for the recommendations! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/38 "2018-06-27T01:17:18Z")
Aged cheese and express shipping?😕 Blasphemy I tells ya. It should be ordered by stagecoach or snail mail. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/39 "2018-06-27T01:47:29Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Aged cheese and express shipping?😕 > > Blasphemy I tells ya. It should be ordered by stagecoach or snail mail. Not in the summer! Some places won’t ship it at all until the weather turns cold. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652/40 "2018-06-27T02:18:44Z")
My daughter was appalled to find out that one of the cheeses I ordered is older than she is. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-year-old-swiss-cheese-is-very-tasty/815652.md?page=3)