Morgins VS: Swiss win in all categories at the World Raclette Championships

All melted cheese: In the Swiss Alps The first ever Raclette World Championship concluded on Sunday. Among the 90 types of cheese available at the three-day event It happened in Morgens in the canton of Valais They were tested, and the majority came from Switzerland – as did the winners. In the three competition categories, only one French cheese was able to win the silver medal.

“All these people are small producers who go to mountain pastures with their cows at the beginning of summer,” said Raclette World Cup founder Henri-Pierre Galetti. The contest is a way to “recognize your work, which is hard work but really beautiful.”

Vallée is considered the origin of the melted cheese dish. The city of Morgens, located at an altitude of 1,300 meters not far from the border with France, welcomed more than 10,000 raclette fans to the World Championships who were able to participate in the celebrations and test the product.

“The flavor is in the fat”

In the kitchen, halved cheese wheels were heated under electric raclette grills for at least 30 seconds. The melted cheese was scraped onto a plate and then immediately presented to the judges in the next room. “The taste is in the fat,” said contestant Jean-Michel Dubuisson during the competition.

“We look for raclette that is creamy and smooth, has a nice appearance and a nice color,” juror and “Papa of Raclette” Eddie Belivar said of the evaluation process. In terms of taste, “nice texture” is important and: “no floss, no strings, no gum.”

Most of the participating cheeses came from Valais or the neighboring French Alps. However, cheeses from the rest of Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, Italy and Romania were represented. Cheese manufacturers from Great Britain, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Kyrgyzstan have expressed interest in the upcoming World Cup.

The Swiss won in all categories

And the winners? The Albague de Tanay dairy company from Valais won the “Raw Alpine Milk” category. Cheese dairy company Le Pont, also from Valais, won the “Raw Milk” category, and Seiler Sélection, produced by Wyssmüller Maître Fromager dairy company from canton Obwalden, won the “Other cheese” category. Les Noisetiers from Lechaux in the French department of Haute-Savoie was the only non-Swiss dairy company to make it to the winning ranks: with a silver medal in the “Raw Milk” category.

(AFP/SES)View comments