The Queso Suizo Project: Wildbachkäse vs. Seemerzler

Two different cheeses with names inspired by bodies of water. One verdict.

I owe it all to a recent QSP sponsorship.

Some good friends of mine are hosting a holiday child (a Ferienkind, as she calls herself). Holiday Child's mum is due any day now with child number two, so Uncle R and Auntie F offered to child mind for a week. Holiday Child is just one month older than Al, so I invited them to come visit with us in Schaffhausen.

It took a while for everyone to warm up to one another, but after some (a lot of) coaxing everything fell into place. At one point we agreed it might be fun to go sledding a bit before it grew dark. Unfortunately, Little L and Al were terrified of going on the sled and Holiday Child was finished after a couple of tumbles off the sled. So, the three children watched as we three adults sled down a hill covered with half melted snow. Apparently we were quite entertaining.

After sledding, it was time to prepare dinner. Auntie F and I left Uncle R with the three children and headed to the nearby Migros. We had the salad ingredients and the bread we needed and were just about to checkout when Auntie F stopped me.

"We should buy some cheese," she suggested.

I guided her to the cheese section and she said the sweetest words, "Why don't you pick something out?"

"Me? You want me to choose?"

"Yes, go ahead. Pick out a couple of different cheeses, my treat, and we'll try them during dinner. Then you can write about them."

And that was how I unintentionally recruited a new Queso Suizo Project sponsor.

A bit about the cheeses:

Contestant #1 is called Wildbachkäse, or Mountain stream cheese. It is a semi-hard cheese with a flavor similar to Schwägalp-Käse. (Maybe it's because they have that common mountain origin going for them.) It's quite salty and buttery, but not as pungent as Schwägalp-Käse, though the rind is MUCH stinkier and a brownish color. It is produced by the Käserei Herschmettlen in Ottikon (canton Zürich).

Bottom line: Mmm, melts in your mouth goodness.

Contestant #2 is called Seemerzler. I don't know what that word means, but it has the word "See" in it which can mean sea or lake. Oh yeah, and there's a bad-ass ship on the label. Back to the cheese -- Seemerzler is unlike any cheese I've ever tasted. It's a hard cheese, yet light, and flavorful, yet mild. It is produced by the Käserei Studer in Hatswil (canton Thurgau).

Bottom line: Delightful and mysterious.

The winner is...

Really, comparing these two cheeses is like comparing apples and oranges, but if I had to pick one, I'd choose the Seemerzler. It stands out because of its unique, but difficult for me to describe, flavor. Is it slightly sweet? It's hard to say. Wildbachkäse tastes too much like another cheese I've recently tried, whereas Seemerzler has a distinctive taste.