Vacherin

vacherin the name of several cheeses made in Switzerland or in the neighbouring region of France which have little in common except that they are made of whole cow’s milk (as the name, derived from vache, meaning cow, indicates).

Vacherin (du) Mont d’Or, until recently, could be either Swiss or French, the name being shared amicably enough by cheese-makers in the Vaud (Switzerland) and Franche-Comté (France) The Swiss have now acquired exclusive legal right to the name, and the French product has to be called by another name, such as vacherin du Haut-Doubs. Rance (1989), who treats these cheeses at length and with particular affection, deplores this development. The cheese is soft and rich, a flat disc which may measure up to 30 cm (1') in diameter. It is bound by a strip of spruce bark and packed in a shallow spruce box which imparts a resinous fragrance to it.