The difference between French and Swiss Vacherin Mont d’Or

The Mont d’Or is an impressive mountain that spans the French/Swiss border in the Jura Mountains, with a gentle incline on the French side and a steep cliff on the Swiss. When the cliff gets lit by the setting sun it glows with a golden colour, hence the name Mont d’Or (mountain of gold).

Made either side of this mountain is one of the world’s most famous seasonal cheeses: Vacherin Mont d’Or, only available from early autumn to late winter. Traditionally this soft, decadent, rich cheese is made only in the winter, after the cows come down the mountain from their summer pastures, and as the production of Comté and Gruyère ceases. The Comté and Gruyère cheese-makers then switch to making the luscious, creamy Vacherin Mont d’Or. To find out more about the history of Vacherin Mont d’Or cheese and why it is made seasonally, click here >

There are 11 producers of Vacherin Mont d’Or on the Swiss side of the mountain and 10 on the French. All have a responsible attitude towards ensuring quality, and strict regulations to follow to ensure their cheese is able to be classified as Mont d’Or.
But although both the French and the Swiss make Mont d’Or, there are subtle differences in the cheeses – they appear similar, yet are characteristically different:

• The French version must be made with raw milk from Montbeliarde or Simmental Cows. The Swiss version uses thermised milk (gently heated almost to pasteurisation).
• The spruce bark used to encircle the cheese comes from the same tree as that used to make the box in which the cheese is presented. This pine tree is found in the Jura forests. The Swiss use wood from pine trees on their side (which they say is better than the French pine); the French use wood from pine trees on their side (which, obviously, they say is better than the Swiss pine!)
• The French make their cheese using soft-cheese equipment – big soft-cheese vats, gentle stirring, then moulding into individual moulds, before being drained, turned and encircled in spruce. The Swiss make their cheese in Gruyère vats which, similar to making Gruyère, they drain into huge moulds. These form tubes of curd that are then sliced into individual cheeses immediately after moulding. Rather than using dedicated soft-cheese equipment, it seems like the Swiss have ‘reverse engineered’ the production to fit with their Gruyère-making methods.
• Both cheeses are aged for around 21 days. During this period, however, the Swiss cheeses are washed every day and kept at 11°C, warmer than the French, which are only washed 3-4 times altogether and are kept at 8°C, dropping to 6°C. This gives the Swiss cheeses a more distinctive pinky-red rind, a silkier texture and ‘meatier’, savoury flavours. The French cheeses have a whiter, dappled mould rind which has more crème-fraiche, buttery lactic notes and a creamier texture. Both become stronger and more intense as they further age.
• Oh, and there is also the difference of the name. Under correct legal guidance, technically the French call this cheese ‘Le Mont d’Or’ or ‘Vacherin du Haut-Doubs’. The Swiss call it ‘Vacherin Mont-d’Or’.
• Finally, the Swiss allow their Vacherin Mont d’Or to be sold from 19th September to 30th April (being made from 15th August to 30th March); the French version is available from 10th September to 10th May (being made from 15th August to 15th March).

Two great producers of Vacherin Mont d’Or are Sancey Richard (also called Fromagerie du Mont d’Or) in France and Fromagerie Tyrode in Switzerland. Both are small family enterprises making outstanding examples of this cheese by hand.

Celebrate their differences!

Buy Vacherin Mont d’ Or online here.

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Some pictures to illustrate the differences:

Swiss:

French