The history of Tête de Moine goes back to the 12th century. This Swiss Mountain cheese was originally made at Bellelay Abbey in the Swiss Jura, and for years it was known only by the abbey’s name. Back then, the monks would typically pay rent to their landlord in the form of cheese. During the anticlerical age that followed the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century, the monks renamed the cheese Tête de Moine, and in the ensuing years, it was made at a series of farms and then small village dairies in the area. The cheese gained a good deal of international recognition when it was awarded a prize at the Paris Exposition in 1856.
Tête de Moine is the smallest of the dozen traditional Swiss cheeses that are protected by an AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégée, or “Protected Designation of Origin”), whose standards restrict the region where the cheese is made (so that the terroir of the soil is appropriate for its unique flavor), the feed used, the traditional techniques employed, et cetera. Only nine producers still make this old-time cheese, and only two affineurs mature it. The wheels we have on hand were crafted by the Spielhofer dairy in the Jura mountains, near Bern.
The dairy, in its current form, is the same age as the Deli! Josef and Nadine Spielhofer, only in their mid-20s in 1982, took over a then-50-year-old fromagerie. Today, Spielhofer has grown a great deal and makes nearly 20 traditional cheeses. They remain committed to craft and tradition. Joe Salonia, who does such wonderful work with the importing firm of Gourmino, helping us gain access to so many amazing artisan Swiss cheeses including this exquisite Tête de Moine, says, “They are very innovative and make many other cheese specialties which have won awards. … They work with mostly mountain dairy milk delivery.”
Tête de Moine, Joe told me, is the single costliest cheese to make in the region—you need about three dozen wheels of it to equal a giant 80-pound-or-so wheel of Gruyère, and yet the labor required for each is probably not much different. Every wheel needs to be washed, turned, and matured carefully, which means, as Joe says, “three dozen apple-pie-ravioli-sized ones by hand instead of one big apple pie.” And speaking of apple pie, the heady nose and full flavor of the Tête de Moine make a great sweet-and-savory pairing with a slice!
Tête de Moine is most widely known for the girolle (also, funnily enough, invented in 1982) that is now commonly used to shave super thin slices off the top of the cheese. It’s a small, round “cheese plane” with a rotating arm that can be used to shave cheese very, very thinly from the top of the wheel (with rind removed) to form what are commonly called “florets,” as the resulting fluffy curls of cheese look a lot like flowers. The texture is something special—and, of course, it alters the flavor and makes this already special cheese into something more special still. Joe Salonia says, “Tête de Moine AOP hitting your palate is something that bewilders my mind.”
Tête de Moine of this quality is a rare treat to have here in the American Midwest! I hope you relish it as much as I have. I’ve been enjoying the Tête de Moine as I would any other mountain cheese—cut into pieces and eaten at room temperature. (The temperature makes a big difference as to how much flavor you experience.) The cheese is remarkably full-flavored, with a modest bit of the tang that comes with washed-rind cheese like this one, and a wonderfully big, buttery finish. It’s great on its own or paired with ripe peaches or the new season’s apples and pears. Try it on a chunk of Bakehouse baguette with some Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter. Or cook some of the new potatoes I’ve been going on about lately, melt a bit of good butter on top, add salt and pepper, and then grate on some Tête de Moine.
