L'Antoine Raclette

In the western Swiss Canton of Fribourg, Raphaël Papaux has been running the century-old village dairy in Le Châtelard for over twenty-five years. While he has made both Gruyère and Vacherin Fribourgeois since day, he eventually began producing his own take on Raclette, a cheese more commonly made further west in Valais. Instead of a direct copy, this version draws heavy influence from the recipe of Vacherin Fribourgeois, incorporating starter cultures more commonly associated with that cheese and heating his curds to a higher temperature than typical. The cheese is released directly from the dairy when young, at which point affineur Walo von Muhlenen buys the wheels when they are only two months old and continues to wash and ripen them in his own cellars until they reach a little over four months of maturity. At this age, the sweet flavours of mountain milk have gained both concentration and a pronounced nuttiness, with an underlying savoury quality that borders on thin chicken broth. As a Raclette, the true distinctions of this cheese begin to emerge when it is heated. Due to the unique make more reminiscent of Vacherin Fribourgeois, this cheese melts at a lower temperature than most other Raclette-style cheeses, and as it transforms into bubbling goo it opens up into a robust, farmy pungency, and the saltier notes of the flavour begin to match the sweet, complex overtone with more gusto.

*A whole L'Antoine Raclette weighs approximately 6kg. Smaller weights are a cut of a whole cheese.