News

Japan cheesemaker wins an award with Swiss cows

Japan cheesemaker wins an award with Swiss cows

Tokyo (SCCIJ) – Switzerland has underlined its global reputation as a cheese producing country at the World Cheese Awards 2019 with three places within the Top 10 ranking. First-time participant Japan scored a surprise hit with a cheese from Tochigi prefecture as the world’s tenth best. There is even a direct connection to Switzerland: The milk of the winning cheese came from several Swiss Braunvieh. So far, these brown cows from the Alpine regions are quite rare in Japan.

Japan cheesemaker wins an award with Swiss cows

Cheese production by the Murith family on the Alp Tsermont at the foot of the Moleson near Gruyeres, FR. © Switzerland Tourism - By-Line: swiss-image.ch/Andre Meier

Many points for Swiss cheese

With 89 points, a Gruyère AOP Premier Cru named “Cremo” produced by Cremo achieved rank #5 behind a blue cheese from the U.S., a parmesan cheese from Italy, a “Torta del Casar” from Spain and a cheddar from Great Britain. 86 points handed a Gallus from Walo van Mühlenen rank #7, followed by a Greyère AOP from Emmi Schweiz at #8 with 85 points (detailed ranking published here).

The handmade “Mori no Cheese” (forest cheese) of the artisan maker Nasunomori in Nasoshiobara in Tochigi at #10 collected 82 points. According to the website of its maker, this semi-hard cheese ripened with the power of natural mold, fungi, and yeast and aged for four to five months. The producer recommends it for fondue and to accompany red wine. Unfortunately, it has entirely run out of stocks since the announcement of the award.

Gold, silver, bronze awards

Altogether, at the 32nd World Cheese Awards, this time in Bergamo (Italy), 260 experts from 35 different countries assessed the appearance, texture, aroma, and flavor of more than 3,800 cheese varieties from 42 different nations. A Super Jury of 16 judges decided about the 16 final winning World Champion Cheeses.

Out of the 84 world’s best cheese with the marking “Super Gold,” eleven were from Switzerland and one from Japan. Besides, the judges handed out 78 gold, silver, and bronze awards to Switzerland and 17 to Japan. The entries of Japan were due to the fact that since the coming into force of the EU-Japan free trade treaty in February 2019, Japan is allowed to export cheese to EU member states.

Japan cheesemaker wins an award with Swiss cows

Handmade “Mori no Cheese” (forest cheese) of the artisan maker Nasunomori in Nasoshiobara in Tochigi prefecture (© nasunomori.jp)

Switzerland as cheese producer

Switzerland has a legendary cheese tradition, as the House of Switzerland writes: “Cheese began to be made from cow’s milk in the Middle Ages, and the discovery of rennet – curdled milk from the inner lining of a calf’s stomach – led to the production of hard cheeses.

For centuries, Swiss rural communities relied on cheese making as a method of milk preservation. As recently as 50 years ago, most families kept a couple of cows, which would graze on mountain pastures each summer. The milk they produced during the grazing season was used to make butter and cheese for the winter.

Gruyère, Emmental, Appenzeller, and Sbrinz came into being in the early modern period. Because Swiss hard cheeses are storable for a long time, they became a highly valued commodity throughout Europe, and their fame endures throughout the world to this day.”

Japan as a late starter

The history of cheese making in Japan starts with the Meiji era government. It lifted an informal ban on the raising and consumption of meat and milk and made these products a part of the national diet. Dairy farmers in Hokkaido delivered the milk for the production of processed cheese by new dairy companies such as Meiji and Yukijiroshi.

After the 1960s and 1970s, blue cheese and Camembert became so popular in Japan that they appeared on the menus of many izakya. Today every supermarket has a cheese section. Also, the number of restaurants offering fondue courses with melted cheese has been rising steadily over the last decade.

Of course, the Swiss still eat much more cheese than the Japanese. Switzerland has an annual per capita consumption of 21.7 kilograms, which is about eight times larger than the annual per capita consumption of 2.6 kilograms of Japan.

Text: Martin Fritz for SCCIJ

LATEST NEWS

RECENT NEWS

  • 2024
  • +2023
  • +2022
  • +2021
  • +2020
  • +2019
  • +2018
  • +2017

Sign up to our weekly newsletter to keep up-to-date with our latest news

UPCOMING EVENTS CALENDAR