The cheese dairy milk is 100 percent natural raw milk that comes from cows fed with hay and healthy herbal grass. None of these cows is fed with silage. The milk, the cows and the cow barns are subject to continual quality controls.

The milk – around 16,000 liters a day – is inspected and weighed when it arrives at the cheese dairy. It is then chilled to below 10°C in a plate cooler and then transferred to large storage tanks.

A portion of the raw milk is then skimmed in a centrifuge to ensure that the fat content of the Appenzeller^® cheese conforms to the exact specification. The skimmed milk portion then flows along with the whole milk via the heat exchanger into the cheese kettle, with each batch amounting to around 6,000 liters.

Under continuous stirring, the milk is warmed to the ideal coagulation temperature (31°C). The rennet (a natural coagulant) and lactic acid bacteria (a natural leavening agent) are added and the curdling process begins. After around 30 to 40 minutes, the milk congeals into a gelatinous mass that is then cut with a cheese harp.

The resulting cheese curd, consisting at this stage of small kernels, continues to shed its watery whey. Once this pre-curdling process is complete, the cheese is warmed gradually under continuous stirring until the cheese kernels achieve the right degree of firmness.

The cheese curd is placed via a distributor into the round cheese forms and then pressed into fresh loaves of cheese. Once enough of the whey has been pressed out, the loaves (or rounds) of cheese are placed on the drip rack. At this stage, a cheese form is still used to hold the soft cheese together.

Each round of cheese is furnished with a cheese certificate during the pressing process. This seal of quality bears the number of the cheese dairy, the proof of origin, the production date and the serial number for the individual round. The cheese certificate enables one to verify the origin of every round of Appenzeller^® cheese at any time.

The rind begins to form while the cheese is in the drip room. Here, it is necessary to continuously control the temperature within the cheese mass. The salt bath then permits the continuation of proper rind formation, and is also a prerequisite for flavor development, handling and shelf life.

The cheese is then brought to the cheese cellar where it undergoes its natural ripening process at a temperature of 14 to 15°C and a relative humidity of more than 90 percent. Here, the cheese rounds are turned and treated with the secret herbal brine at regular intervals.

Five to seven weeks after the production, the rounds of cheese are transferred to Appenzeller^® cheese merchants who carry out a further inspection that includes an evaluation of the cheese’s consistency, hole formation color, appearance and flavor.

Only the very best quality cheese is released as Appenzeller^® cheese for sale to the customer. Achieving this quality is a matter of care, including the application of the secret brine to the cheese rounds at regular intervals throughout the ripening period.

Although the exact recipe for the herbal brine is a carefully guarded secret that has been handed over from generation to generation, the unique, zesty flavor that it gives Appenzeller^® cheese is known far and wide.