A Mystery Swiss Cheese: Schabziger and What To Do With It

I
recently received from a Swiss friend who stayed with me in our house
in Umbria a lovely gift: two little forms of green Schabziger, a mystery
Swiss cheese made in the Glarner mountains, following a 550-year old recipe.

  


And it's not made anywhere else!



Today, there is only one manufacturing plant for this cheese, in the canton of Glarus, run by Geska A.G. since 2000.



It
comes in very small forms, each only 100g, and here it is, looking
smart in its classic green and white box, I remember it from the time I
was a kid (and I won't tell you how long ago that was!):







It is a dry, skim cow milk cheese flavored with a special herb called blue fenugreek that is (surprisingly) also widely used in Georgian cuisine. The plant blooms in June and looks very pretty:







Schabziger
reportedly was first made by monks in the 8th century. The exact
specification on how to make this cheese was laid down during a cantonal assembly
in 1463. From that year, the cheese bore a
stamp of origin, making it one of the earliest protected brands in the
world...And you thought the Swiss only made watches!



This
so-called "green Swiss cheese" is in fact little known outside of
Switzerland. The only two countries where it sells are Germany and the
Netherlands though it is commercialized in the United States under the
brand name of Sap Sago. 



A weird name, Sap Sago. Nobody knows why, possibly a corruption of the way the name sounds in
German or a reference to "sap" as in tree sap, the vital lymph.
Apparently it was brought to America in the 19th century and sold in New
York pharmacies. Thus, it was presumably seen as having a medical value -
which indeed it has, since it is very low in fats. But that may also be a
reason why its use has remained limited, since it was associated with
medical use rather than seen as a normal food.



The normal use: grate it and mix it with butter, spread on your bread. But I
thought there should be other ways to use it. I googled some recipes and
the best site I came across is this one run by Geska, click here to see the website and here to download their best pdf brochure (there are several). 



An experimental recipe:
I thought I'd experiment, using Italian products like Mascarpone. One
obvious use for Schabziger is to sprinkle it over Fettucine all'Alfredo,
replacing the grated Parmesan. But I thought I'd try it over boiled
potatoes. So here is the dish I concocted last Sunday, really simple to
do: 



Ingredients for 4 persons


1 form Schabziger, grated 
5 medium-sized potatoes, boiled and peeled 
150 g Mascarpone (or any other available cream cheese) 
butter 
1 clove garlic, peeled 
grated nutmeg 
breadcrumbs (as needed to cover the dish)  
pepper and (optional) very little salt (remember the Schabziger cheese is salty even though the Mascarpone isn't)



Method:



1. Rub a pyrex dish (that goes in the oven) with a garlic clove, then butter it. 



2. Slice the boiled potatoes (thick slices) and lay in the dish



3. Mix the mascarpone with enough milk to make it a little creamier and add the grated Schabziger and a pinch of nutmeg



4. Cover with breadcrumbs and dot with butter



5. In a warm oven for ten minutes, then turn on the grill until a golden crust is formed. 



Here it is, enjoy!













Tastes great, it accompanies beautifully any roast meat and is even good by itself with a nice glass of red wine!





NOTE: This post comes from my Cooking Blog. You can find more recipes and tricks in cooking there, just click here.  I like to share the recipes I test and make up, and then I keep track of them on that blog...



(Photo credit: the Braunwald Alps, click here)