Swiss cheesemaker Emmi will start the new millennium with a special limited production of Emmental cheese matured for 16 months. The product will spend much of that time under natural conditions in sandstone caves.
The normal top grade Emmental from the Luzern creamery has a ripening time of 12 months. For longer maturation, the cheese rounds have to be of premium quality and, luckily, the milk produced during July and August 1998 on Swiss alpine pastures was of the highest standard.
The millennium cheeses were not actually made by Emmi, but were specially selected by the company’s master cheesemakers at alpine village dairies. The selection process is so rigorous that, in the end, only 2,000 rounds were earmarked for Emmi millennium status.
Top cheese merchants throughout the world have now been contacted and offered the chance of selling the mountain cheese delicacy. The cheeses are on offer on a one per merchant basis only and as complete rounds. Each 90kg round will have its own unique registration number and will be delivered with a millennium cheese certificate.