# Aged Swiss Cheese **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749 "2004-10-28T23:02:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [October 28, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749/1 "2004-10-28T23:02:00Z")
How come Swiss cheese can rarely be found older than two years of age? I got my hands on some a few years ago that was about 2 and a half, and aged it to 3 years before consuming it. _It was wonderful!_ So sharp and savory! Much more intense than plain old two year old! I’ve had cheddar that was almost into its teens before being consumed. What makes Swiss so sharp so young, and so hard to find past the age of 2? ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749/2 "2004-10-29T00:06:37Z")
Sorry, not an answer for you, but … How did you age the cheese yourself for another 6 months? Did you buy an entire swiss cheese or just a chunk of swiss? Did you need to wrap it in cheese-cloth and store it in a dark cool cellar or is there an easier way. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749/3 "2004-10-29T00:40:28Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > How did you age the cheese yourself for another 6 months? Did you buy an entire swiss cheese or just a chunk of swiss? Did you need to wrap it in cheese-cloth and store it in a dark cool cellar or is there an easier way. **Bibby** , I’m from Wisconsin! I went to my local cheese shop, had them lop off the desired amount of cheese, wrap it appropriately (plastic wrap, nice and airtight), and give it to me. I stored it in my cheese refrigerator until I was ready to eat it. What? _You_ don’t have a cheese refrigerator? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749/4 "2004-10-29T15:36:03Z")
**Quapgod** ;), I’ve only room for one fridge, boo. And a second would be used to store wine and drinks. I am surprised the cheese ages well in air tight plastic, don’t you get a risk of anaerobic bacteria like botulism? [Amazon Gormet Food](http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/ref=sc_fe_c_3_0/102-3242099-5568140?%5Fencoding=UTF8&node=3593441&no=3587391&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER) has a few interesting raw milk swiss cheeses but none seem very long aged. I think its a case of style of cheese, Swiss and Dutch tend not to age their cheeses much, whilst French and English cheeses are more often aged for a long time. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2004, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749/5 "2004-10-29T23:56:17Z")
Thanks for the link, **bip**! But botulism in cheese is usually a problem of cheese from unpasteurized milk, as opposed to cheese that’s aged longer. Good hygiene & proper wrapping should keep a cheese from spoiling. I’m still interested in finding out what goes on with swiss at a chemical level that makes it sharp and crumbly so fast, and what happens if it would be aged for a nice, round 5 years or so. anyone? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749/6 "2004-10-30T00:43:48Z")
Part of the reason why it’s difficult to find a good aged cheese (especially if you’re not fortunate enough to live in a place that takes it’s dairy seriously) is the Blanding of America. Companies have found that they can sell more of a given food item if doesn’t have much flavor to it. So they’ve been watering down the taste of things, especially sharp flavored things like cheese, for years now. I can remember when I was a kid being able to get sharp cheese that had an intense bite to it, now, even the extra sharp cheese doesn’t have much of a bite to it. ☹ ---
**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:** [October 30, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749/7 "2004-10-30T02:17:00Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Part of the reason why it’s difficult to find a good aged cheese (especially if you’re not fortunate enough to live in a place that takes it’s dairy seriously) is the Blanding of America. Companies have found that they can sell more of a given food item if doesn’t have much flavor to it. So they’ve been watering down the taste of things, especially sharp flavored things like cheese, for years now. I can remember when I was a kid being able to get sharp cheese that had an intense bite to it, now, even the extra sharp cheese doesn’t have much of a bite to it. ☹ Come down by me once! One local cheese shop sells 9 year old cheddar. But their swiss is only 2 and a half! ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749/8 "2004-10-30T03:36:05Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Come down by me once! One local cheese shop sells 9 year old cheddar. But their swiss is only 2 and a half! Well, if I can ever scrape up the cash, I’ll certainly head up that way. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749/9 "2004-10-30T15:40:05Z")
Never had an aged Swiss, but I’ve seen a prehistoric Munster. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749/10 "2004-10-31T06:31:40Z")
I only caught a part of the show, but you should hear the interview with Ihsan Gurdal on [The Splendid Table](http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/) about his quest for perfectly aged cheeses. You’ll be salivating all over yourself at his descriptions of the cheeses. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749/11 "2004-10-31T11:48:44Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > What? _You_ don’t have a cheese refrigerator? :eek: ufff! Doesn’t \*everyone \* have a cheese refrigerator?? :dubious: ---
**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:** [October 31, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749/12 "2004-10-31T18:52:20Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > I only caught a part of the show, but you should hear the interview with Ihsan Gurdal on [The Splendid Table](http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/) about his quest for perfectly aged cheeses. You’ll be salivating all over yourself at his descriptions of the cheeses. Interesting link, **TF**. Mmmmmmmmmm…cheese worship! ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749/13 "2004-10-31T18:55:47Z")
Sadly, it doesn’t seem that he’s making his cheese available via the web. I’d certainly love to be able to sample some of them. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749/14 "2004-11-01T06:36:18Z")
First off, what exactly do you mean by “Swiss cheese”. I’m aware that it’s a catch-all term used in the U.S. and that _usually_ it refers to Emmentaler cheese. If that is what you are refering to, then what sources I’ve read say that it reaches its optimal maturity at about 12 months. Sbrinz cheese, however should ideally be aged for at least 18 months before consumption, with 3 years being optimal. I certainly don’t have an answer in regards to why cheddar ages differently from swiss cheeses but I’ll WAG that it probably has to do with the different bacteria used in making those cheeses. According to [this page](http://www.cas.muohio.edu/~stevenjr/mbi630/industrialmicro630.html), the bacteria used are: Cheddar: Streptococcus lactis, S. cremoris, S. durans; Lactobacillus casei, L. plantarum Swiss: S. lactis, L. helveticus, S. thermophilus; Propionibacterium shermanii, P. freudenreichii Furthermore, [these guys](http://amalihtml.tripod.com/cheese.html) claim: > [@](#): > > Although most ripened cheeses are the product of metabolic activities of the lactic acids bacteria, several well-known cheeses owe their particular character to other related organisms. > > Swiss Cheese > A mixed culture of L.delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and S.themophilus is usually employed along with a culture of Propionibacterium shemanii, which is added to funtion during the ripening process in flavor development and eye formation. By “eye formation”, it’s clear they’re refering to Emmentaler. So, elements of an answer. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aged-swiss-cheese/271749/15 "2004-11-02T14:53:20Z")
Thanks, **jovan**. The eye comment reminded me: In those really old Swiss cheeses, they eyes are filled with a clear golden liquid that is just the _essence_ of Swiss (or Emmenthaler, etc) cheesiness! Yum.