So one morning we left our hotel shortly after 8am and drove to the farm at Alpage du Col de la Croix, Col de la Croix in Villars-sur-Ollon to the farm where the cheese is made. It’s in an idyllic setting – but you do need to look out carefully for the signs to find it.

Once we had announced ourselves, we were taken to the outbuilding where the cheese is made – and boy was it hot! The wood fire was blazing and the large copper vats were full of milk ready to be transformed into cheese.

This traditional method of making alpine cheese hasn’t changed for years and at the Col de la Croix they produce L’Etivaz, an AOP Swiss Alp Cheese.

The cheese is made using an age-old traditional technique which requires specialist equipment and lots of hard work and know how.

Lots of stirring is involved as well as constant checks on the temperature gauges.

When the cheese has got to the correct consistency, the mixture is divided and placed into large moulds covered with cotton cloths.

Making cheese is hard work and very intense and it requires a lot of lifting. The huge rounds of cheese are then placed in a specially weighted rack to drain off all excess fluid before the next stage of the process which is for the cheese to be left to mature.

After having watched the L’Etivaz cheese being made, we then went into the farmhouse where we were served a delicious breakfast with farm produce from the Col de la Croix farm. No surprise of course that cheese was on the menu ! 🙂