OK, to elaborate…I grew up in southeastern Ohio, and my Grandpa was always bringing home baby Swiss cheese from the local Amish market. Good stuff. I liked having slices of it on the side with dinner, or on ham sandwiches or what have you. It has a much milder flavor than regular Swiss, almost a nutty flavor. I really liked it, and just figured you could get it about anywhere.
Boy, was I wrong.
I moved out here to Seattle, and every so often checked for it in the cheese section of the grocery store. Hmm, thought I, that’s odd, they always seem to be out. Eventually I started checking every time I was at the store, to no avail. This became sort of a Holy Quest for me. Surely SOME grocery store in the Jet City would have baby Swiss for sale, right?
Wrong. At least, no store that I could ever find. I resigned myself to a baby Swiss-free existence.
Then when I was home on vacation last week, I decided to swing by the Amish market and pick up a wheel of the stuff, just for nostalgia’s sake. I looked at the label and found that it was made by Guggisberg Cheese, located in Millersburg, Ohio. Hmm! Could this be the reason I can’t ever find the stuff on the West Coast?
Ha! It is native to the great state of Ohio! I should have known that such a delightful cheese product could only have originated in my home state. And now the mystery is solved, and I know that I either have to mail order the stuff (scary) or stock up every time I visit the homeland.
This has been a baby Swiss public service announcement from yours truly. Please, no applause. It’s just what I do.
Yeah, Chrome Spot, what were you thinking. Baby Swiss is a free range product. It’s the Rock Cornish Game Cheddar that has the cheese-rights people (PETC) all up in arms.
-Rue.
Life, Chicago’s vast assortment of foods is one reason I haven’t followed my mother and brothers out to Seattle. (Another two reasons are my brothers.) You can’t get a decent hot dog there. You can’t get an Italian beef for love or money. Taco Bell is where you get Mexican food. And they burn the coffee.
You can’t get decent pierogi out here in Seattle, either. I got all excited at the Bite of Seattle festival this year, because there was a pierogi stand. I ordered a cheese pierogi and got something that looked sort of like a cruller with Velveeta melted inside it. A travesty. Oh, how I miss the food in Chicago…sigh.