Before the Romans occupied the Swiss Plateau, a Celtic group known as the Helvetii settled in the lowlands between the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Alps (see Figure 1). Here the Helvetii established agricultural communities that employed transhumant pastoralism—the seasonal movement of livestock—and mountain cheese making to take advantage of the grazing opportunities in the surrounding highlands. During the Roman period (625 B–476 AD), the Celtic peoples became famous for their cow’s milk cheeses. Most of their mountain cheeses were imported to Rome via the former Greek colony of Massalia (present-day Marseilles, France).[1]
Fig. 1: Overview Map of the Territories of the Major Celtic Groups[2]
Both archaeological and historical evidence suggests that Celtic cheesemakers were using high-temperature cooking techniques and high-pressure pressing methods to make large cheeses. Accomplished metalworkers, the Celts were using bronze and iron cauldrons long before the Roman period. During the first century AD, the Roman geographer Strabo wrote about the widespread cheese production all along the northern slopes of the Alps. According to Strabo, these mountain cheeses were brought down to Celtic settlements in the valleys and plains. These must certainly have been rugged, long-lived cheeses. Evidently, those exported to Rome were also quite exceptional. In fact, both Pliny and Galen considered Vatusican—a cheese from the Savoie region of modern France—the best and most popular cheese in Rome.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Germanic peoples moved onto the Swiss Plateau and settled among the Romanized Celts. By 800 AD the influx of new settlers produced populations pressures in the lowlands and increased competition for summer grazing in the highlands. As cheese making increased and the trade in mountain cheeses expanded, the counts of Gruyère took note. Granted feudal authority over the highlands of the region by the Holy Roman Emperor in the eleventh century AD, the counts took control of the traditional summer transhumance routes and the highland grazing lands. Over the course of the next two centuries continued population growth and new settlements in the lowlands generated further pressure on highland grazing. This led to the creation of new, more remote grazing areas and the increased production of cheese. By 1300 Gruyère’s reputation for exceptional cheeses expanded far and wide. In order to meet demand and facilitate their overland transport to market, Gruyère cheesemakers made their cheeses even larger. They were specifically sized to be packed ten to a barrel—each cheese weighing from 40 to 60 pounds—and transported by boat from Lake Geneva to the Rhône River and on to the Mediterranean and the markets beyond.
Gruyère’s lucrative cheese trade drew the attention of the aristocratic lords of Savoie, Bern, Bavaria, and Tyrol. Starting in the thirteenth century, the counts and dukes of Savoie Bavaria, Tyrol encouraged the development of alpine cheeses. In the French Alps, alpine cheeses such as Beaufort, Tomme, Reblochon, and Raclette flourished. Along the western slopes of the Jura Mountains Comté (or Gruyère de Comté) prospered. During the 1400s, the barons of Bern gradually gained control of the Gruyère highlands from the counts of Gruyère. They also recruited highland cheesemakers from Gruyère to settle in the Emmental in order to improve their cheeses and increase the profitability of the dairy farms located in the Emme River Valley. The transplanted Gruyère cheesemakers played a pivotal role in developing large, firm cheeses such as Emmentaler, which is now commonly called “Swiss Cheese” outside of Switzerland. And so, by 1500, an entire family of moderate- to large-sized, wheel-shaped, firm-bodied, rugged, and long-lived cheeses were being produced throughout the Alps.[3]
With asparagus season in full swing here in Michigan, this recipe (see link below) from Everyday Food (New York: Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2007) is just the ticket for a Sunday brunch or convivial gathering family or friends. I recommend pairing this delectable Asparagus Gruyère Tart with a bottle of 2019 Angelo Negro Vino Bianco. Angelo Negro is
a historic producer in the Roero area of Piemonte (Piedmont), which means “at the foot of the mountains” in Italian. One of the first to gain organic certification in northwestern Italy, the Negro estatecontinues to specialize in single-vineyard Arneis. Although this unfiltered Vino Bianco looks rustic and cloudy, it is surprisingly fresh and versatile with hints of grapefruit, apple, and bitter almond.[4] Just chill, shake, and serve. One bite of this tart and a sip of Angelo Negro’s Vino Bianco will surely have you singing about the lively Alpine hills along with Maria.
Photo Credit: Emma Ruth Staggs
[1] Paul S. Kindstedt, Cheese and Culture: A History of Cheese and Its Place in Western Civilization (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2012), 20, 149.
[2] John Haywood, Atlas of the Celtic World (London: Thames & Hudson, 2001), 30–37.
[3] Kindstedt, Cheese and Culture, 104–106, 149–150.
[4] “2019 Angelo Negro ‘Vino Bianco,’” Rock Juice, accessed June 6, 2021, https://rockjuiceinc.com/products/ 2019-vino-bianco-arneis-angelo-negro-piemonte.