Le Gruyère AOP is a semi-hard cheese made with unpasteurized cow’s milk. It has a rich creamy, slightly nutty taste and has been produced in Switzerland since the 12th century. Today it is produced in the Swiss dairies where it was first produced – the district of La Gruyère in the Canton of Fribourg (Switzerland) – and also in the cantons of Vaud, Neuchâtel, and Jura, as well as in a few municipalities of Bern.
The production process is strictly followed by milk producers, cheese-makers and affineurs (maturers). The cows which produce milk for Gruyère AOP are solely fed on natural forage—fresh grass in summer and hay in winter, with no additives. Twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, each milk producer delivers unpasteurized milk to its assigned cheese dairy.
In 2001, Le Gruyère received the Protected Designation of Origin (AOP) from the Federal Office for Agriculture, which recognizes a level of quality granted uniquely to typical products, deeply rooted in a region that gives it a specific character and an inimitable flavor. The AOP label guarantees the authenticity of products made according to traditional know-how.
