Twice in the last two days the sandwich maker in my building’s cafeteria has given me an orange cheese for my sandwich when I requested Swiss. I didn’t complain and I assumed the first time she just didn’t hear me correctly. But today when she gave me the same orange cheese, that looks a lot like Cheddar, I really began to wonder if there’s a variety of Swiss cheese that I’m not aware of. It has no holes and, quite honestly, is so bland that I can’t identify this cheese by taste.
Am I ignorant of a new variety of Swiss cheese or is m cafeteria’s sandwich maker out to lunch?
I’ve never seen any orange cheese made in this country. Must be Dutch or Cheddar.
Oh! and if you want to buy real Swiss cheese, don’t look for “Swiss cheese”, but “Switzerland cheese”. Or look for a label that says Gruyère or Emmental, depending on which you like.
In the US “Switzerland cheese” is usually Emmental (the one with holes). They make lots of Emmental in Switzerland but they export most of it.
'Cause we like Gruyère better. Gruyère has no holes.
Jarlsberg is made in Norway. It’s similar to Emmental, but milder.
The orange color in some cheeses comes vegetable dye (often annatto). The dying of cheese originated in the days when the quality of milk changed from season to season. The best milk was produced in the spring when the cows or sheep had fresh grass to eat. The carotene in the grass gave the milk (and cheeses made from the milk) a yellowish color. People associated this color with good quality, so cheese producers would sometimes dye their cheeses when they couldn’t get this yellowish milk. Most of the best cheeses are undyed, although I can think of one notable exception (mimolette, a fine French cheddar-like cheese). I can’t remember ever seeing a dyed Swiss-type cheese.
Swiss-type cheeses have a chewy, non-crumbly texture. If your orange “Swiss” like this?
On the other hand, if it’s as bland as you say, why order this cheese at all?
Can you not tell what cheese it tastes like? Don’t order it if you can’t, because then it’s not swiss. Some swiss is a dark yellow, but I wouldn’t leave it past someone to dye it orange.
