When it comes to cheese Swiss cheese is considered the ultimate fromage thanks to its popularity in cartoons books and other media. In its native Switzerland it is known as Emmentaler and is one of the many types of cheese available on the market. Ever wondered what gives this cheese its famous holes?
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 Food Unwrapped | 2021-11-11 18:15:01 |  15,178 Views |
Why Are There Holes in Swiss Cheese? | Food Unwrapped
It turns out that the holes the cheese industry calls “eyes” are caused by a bacterium called propionibacterium freudenreichii. “This bacterium ferments lactic acid and produces carbon dioxide” scientist Mark Johnson of the Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin told Reader’s Digest. “The carbon dioxide collects in certain spots in the cheese and produces a large bubble or eye.” This process is also what gives the cheese its signature sweet nutty flavor.
American chemist William Clarke was the first to attribute the porous appearance of Swiss cheese to bacteria. He published his findings in a 1917 issue of the "Journal of Dairy Science." What he was never able to fully determine was the exact origin of the bacteria themselves.
Decades later the holes mysteriously began to disappear from Emmental cheese prompting scientists to investigate further. One such scientist was Walter Bisig of Agroscope a government-run research center in Switzerland who told The New Yorker in 2015 “The farmers told us and we saw it in the cheese association’s assessment reports: There were just fewer holes.” Seeking an answer Bisig hypothesized that the diminishing hole count was actually due to a surprising ingredient: hay or rather a lack thereof.
