History

Past to Present

The earliest signs of human settlement in the Appenzell region date back 30,000 years. Around the year 1069, the abbot of the St. Gallen monastery established a domicile in the region. This domicile was referred to as «abbacella» (or abbot’s cell) from which the area’s present name of “Appenzell” is derived. The domicile included cellars and storage facilities where the farmers in the region were required to bring their tithes. This activity made the location of the domicile the economic, administrative and religious center of the region. In the year 1513, the still undivided Appenzell region acceded to the Swiss Confederation.

The history of Appenzeller^® cheese dates back more than 700 years. As early as the Middle Ages, the monks at the St. Gallen monastery were known to have enjoyed the cheese that they received as a tithe from the dairies of Appenzell. The first written record of the cheese goes back to the year 1282. Strict, uniform standards of quality were introduced in the middle of the 20th century and the production area itself was precisely defined. In 1995 the production of Appenzeller^® cheese was certified according to the ISO 9001 quality management standard.