The milk and The holes
     
vache

Practically all Swiss cheese is made of cow's milk. Readers of Heidi may be disappointed to know that the number of goats - and sheep too - has fallen drastically over the last century. A hundred years ago the country had 420,000 goats; in 2005 there were 74,000.

Until about the 1930s, cows shared the meadows of the central plateau with sheep and goats. But as more and more of the countryside disappeared under concrete, farmers preferred to leave what remained more or less solely to cows, which depend on rich grass. Sheep and goats are now kept almost exclusively in the mountains, living on slopes too steep for cows, and finding fodder where cows would find none.

In 1999 Switzerland produced 134,000 tonnes of cheese from cow's milk - and just 245 tonnes from sheep and goats.

Those famous holes

And now it's time to dispel a myth: most Swiss cheese doesn't have holes.

What abroad is commonly called "Swiss cheese" is in fact Emmentaler. The holes are caused by carbon dioxide building up in the cheese as it slowly matures - a process which gives it its special taste.US President Clinton caused horror and indignation in Switzerland when, in one of the final acts of his administration, he agreed to a recommendation that the size of the holes could be halved. The reason: to reduce the chances of the cheese bursting during manufacture and to make it easier to slice. Swiss manufacturers were quick to announce that the plan did not affect them.Americans may or may not be surprised to know that what is marketed in the US as "Swiss cheese" or "Emmentaler cheese" has never seen the inside of a Swiss dairy. It is mass produced, mainly in Wisconsin, Utah and Ohio, with a texture described by connaisseurs as "rubbery."The genuine article is a hard cheese, made of unpasteurised milk, and sold under the name "Emmentaler Cheese from Switzerland." And it will continue to ripen until the holes are as big as they need to be - usually around two centimetres (3/4 inch). And even if it doesn't qualify in the US as "Grade A Sandwich Ready," the Swiss, and gourmets everywhere, will enjoy it all the more.