European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 10, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Left the master cheese maker s moment of truth determining when curdled milk has become cheese. Wheels aging in the Plant s cellars below Are regularly brushed with Salt to help toughen the developing Rind. Cheese is alike. And in fact that gruyere is one of the Best. Whatever the tourists might come to think gruyere is ranked As one of the choicest of cheeses by the Swiss themselves who consider it perfect for Fondue and consequently consume most of the 23,000 tons produced annually. Only about 5,000 tons make it beyond their Borders. Visitors to the Plant can watch the Miracle of cheese making from a glassed in gallery beginning with morning milk deliveries. Nearly half of All the milk Swiss Farmers sell goes into making cheese. One of Moeri s wheels requires about 100 Gallons of milk the daily output of about 35 cows cows that Are constantly poked and probed and tested to ensure that their milk remains of the Best Quality. Mere silage does not pass their Chubby lips for these Are pampered cows fed Hay and concentrated feed and carrots a diet considered important enough to rate government subsidy. The milk itself undergoes extensive tests for bacteria count fat and water Content among others because Swiss Law forbids sterilization pasteurization or the addition of preservatives of other chemicals if the milk is to be used in cheese production. The morning deliveries Are mixed with evening milk from the Day before and then warmed to about 90 degrees f. Rennet and bacteria cultures Are added thickening the milk into a mass which is then Cut either by hand with the traditional cheese Harp or at the Pring operation with a mechanical raking . Further heating and stirring and Moeri s moment of truth is at hand. At springy the traditional filling of the cheese cloth has been replaced by speedier if less romantic discharge pipes which fill 16 sieved holds. The whey drips out and the remaining mass is pressed for several hours. A Salt Bath which helps develop the Rind and 6 to 12 months of fermentation Are required before the wheels become marketable gruyere. And the famous holes they Are there created by pockets of carbonic Gas that form during the ripening. Gruyere has pea size holes roughly 20 to the slice although in the last few years the number of holes per slice has dropped by nearly half bringing cries from cheese connoisseurs and prompting the Federal Dairy research Institute outside of Bern to assign 15 scientists to the problem. Lisbeth Tahti with the Swiss Dairy Union in Bern downplays the problem noting that initial research identifies the culprit As better sterilization which is killing the bacteria that creates the carbonic Gas along with objectionable organisms. Taste and texture Are not affected she said adding the Happy thought that fewer holes mean More cheese for the Money. Fewer holes have not in fact Hurt the Sale of gruyere in Switzerland or abroad but the problem remains a heated Issue if Only with cheese makers who receive bonuses for perfect wheels with the Correct number of holes. And As even Stahli admits without the holes a piece of gruyere would almost look like a piece of  springy Cheeser is located at the base of the Hill below the town of gruyere about 40 minutes South of Bern. It is open from 6 . To 6 . Daily but actual cheese making takes place from 9 to 11 . And from 1 to 3 30 . There is an audio visual show in English French and German. Annexed to the Plant Are a cafeteria and gift shop where visitors can buy slabs and Small wheels of gruyere to taste or to just count the holes. April 10,1986 stripes Magazine