At SFGate.com, Janet Fletcher (a cheese writer you should be following) reviews Försterkäse, one of the first bark-wrapped cheeses I discovered when I ventured beyond Vacherin, and still a perennial favorite. This is a cheese to seek out, especially if you're not afraid of a little pungency in your cheeses:
Försterkäse has natural appeal
In times past, many cheese makers looked to nature for materials that today they can order from catalogs. They relied on airborne bacteria, not purchased cultures, to ferment the milk. They made their own rennet instead of buying it. They harvested ferns to wrap fresh cheeses and protect them from flies, and they wove local grasses into baskets to drain the curds. A thin strip of tree bark, rendered pliable by boiling, could be wrapped around a cheese to preserve its shape as the wheel ripened and softened.
Försterkäse, a Swiss cow's milk cheese encircled with a ribbon of fir bark, harks back to this tradition of using what nature provides. It is a contemporary creation, but it closely resembles Vacherin, a cheese made for more than a century on both the Swiss and French sides of the Alps.
Its backstory, although brief, is messy. Partners split, recipes changed hands, murky legal issues emerged. But apparently, we have a happy ending. The energetic and enterprising Thomas Stadelmann, a second-generation cheese maker, is now the sole producer of Försterkäse. He also created the fabulous Heublumen, an alpine wheel aged in hay that is sometimes available in the Bay Area.
Made with thermalized milk - a heat treatment that stops short of pasteurization - Försterkäse is a roughly 2-pound wheel measuring about 2 inches tall. The surface is flesh colored and tacky, thanks to repeated washing with brine. The ivory interior is semisoft and supple, with many small slits that keep it from feeling dense and sticky on the tongue. It will never get soupy like a ripe Vacherin, but I enjoy its silky texture against the crunchy, salty rind.
Most of all, I love its aroma. Försterkäse exhibits the robust, meaty scents characteristic of washed-rind cheeses, a melding of garlic, sauteed onion and aged beef. Woodsy, smoky notes from the bark add to the chorus, their presence most pronounced as you near the edge.
Check out the full post.
(Photo ©2013 SFGate.com)