Inspirational Raclette Madness !!!

The time has come to find all the facts you may ever need around the existence of the most radical of cheeses... the Raclette!

Did you know Raclette is both a cheese and a dish??

The word Raclette comes from the French word racler, which means "to scrape."

Raclette has been produced for centuries in the mountainous Swiss canton of Valais. According to their legend, shepherds and herdsmen, short on ingredients, once heated wedges of raclette by an open fire, then scraped off the top layer of melted cheese onto pickles and boiled potatoes.

Switzerland produces approximately 80% of raclette. The cheese is produced from milk that comes from cows that graze on fresh meadow grass in the summer and meadow hay during the winter!

During the raclette cheese making process, the lactose is removed when the whey is pressed out of the curds. The little lactose that’s left breaks down over time while the cheese is aging. For raclette that means about 10-12 weeks.

In Switzerland, Raclette is the name given to a style of cheese, and each Swiss Raclette is named for the village where it is made, keeping it personal to the producer!

It has a firm, smooth, and creamy texture, is ivory-pale yellow in color with small irregular holes, and has an edible orange-brown rind which helps flavor-boosting bacteria grow, also adds flavor to the cheese.

The flavour of raclette varies slightly depending on the region in which it's produced, but it generally has a floral aroma and is nutty, fruity, spicy, and milky in flavor.

In France, there’s also a goat’s milk version of Raclette that comes from Poitou and is aged in Savoie. It is called Tomme de chèvre pour raclette. So if you ever can't find the Swiss cheese then French is also an option!

It's often associated with snowy mountains and skiing, so you're likely to find this on the slopes!

Traditionally the melting happens in front of an open fire with the big piece of cheese facing the heat which is then scraped off the wheel with a special cheese knife, you'll have seen this in restaurants, it's a big trend at the minute!

Raclette is high in protein and rich in calcium and vitamin A, and has a 50 percent fat content.

How interesting???