My nephew and I took a trip to the lovely Bernese country side. The Emmental, a valley in the canton of Bern, is famous for its green meadows, rolling hills, its many typical Bernese farms, and, of course, for its famous Emmentaler-Käse–the cheese with the holes, known in the United States as “Swiss Cheese.” I have to specify though that the cheese with holes from Emmental is just one of the roughly 450 types of cheeses produced in Switzerland. In addition, not all so-called “Swiss cheeses” are made in Switzerland, and there are big differences in quality.

All of this and more we learned during a demonstration at the Schaukäserei, a cheese dairy, where we not only watched a demonstration but also got a chance to try our hands at making cheese. It was very enlightening, informative, and a lot of fun!

Preparations and explanations by our master cheese maker!

And here we go: my nephew Rico at work!

Teamwork, I’m taking over for the moment.

This isn’t the Emmentaler cheese but a soft cheese. You can add herbs, pepper or just have it plain.

After our “heavy work” we checked out the rest of the dairy. The beautiful farms and the peaceful environment make you feel like you’ve stepped back in time!

Did I mention they had excellent coffee and dessert?

It was once again a memorable day in Switzerland!