Swiss cheese culture is inseparable from Alpine history — before refrigeration, the hard cheeses produced in mountain summer pastures (Alp) were the primary way of preserving milk through winter. Fondue and raclette are not merely dishes; they are the social expression of this Alpine cheese culture, and understanding them properly requires understanding the cheeses themselves.
Fondue
Fondue (from the French fondre — to melt): a communal dish where cheese melted in white wine is served in a shared pot (caquelon) over a flame, and bread is dipped using long forks. The ritual: everyone around the pot; tradition holds that if you lose your bread in the pot, you must buy the next round of drinks or perform a forfeit. The cheeses: the classic Swiss fondue uses a combination of Gruyère and Vacherin Fribourgeois (half and half) — this combination is called Fribourgeois or moitié-moitié (half-half). Fondue Neuchâteloise uses Gruyère and Emmental. Fondue Savoyarde (French Alpine, not Swiss) uses Beaufort, Comté, and Gruyère. The wine: a dry Swiss white wine (Chasselas — also called Fendant in the Valais, Chasselas or Gutedel in German Switzerland) is the traditional choice. The same wine goes in the pot. The method: the caquelon (an earthenware pot) is rubbed with a cut garlic clove; white wine is heated until simmering; grated cheese is added gradually in small amounts while stirring in a figure-8 motion; a small amount of cornstarch (Maizena) mixed with kirsch (cherry schnapps) is added to stabilise the emulsion; nutmeg and white pepper season the final fondue. The bread: stale bread (from the day before) is preferred because it absorbs without falling apart. Tradition: do not drink water or juice with fondue — only white wine, tea, or schnapps. Cold drinks are said to congeal the cheese in the stomach (medically inaccurate but culturally firm). The croûte (the crispy layer at the bottom of the caquelon after the cheese is finished) is a delicacy, scraped out by whoever hosts or whoever ordered it.
Raclette
Raclette: both the cheese (an Alpine semi-hard cheese from the canton of Valais) and the dish. The name comes from racler (French — to scrape). The traditional method: a half-wheel of raclette cheese is held close to an open fire or infrared heater; as the surface melts, it is scraped onto a plate with boiled potatoes, gherkins, and pickled onions (cornichons et oignons). The restaurant method: individual raclette machines with small pans (coupelles) that slide under an electric heater — each person melts their own slice and scrapes it over their potatoes. The cheese: authentic Raclette du Valais AOP (Protected Origin) comes from Valais canton in Switzerland — the cheese is made from raw Alpine milk from cows grazing at altitude (the pasture diet gives it distinctive flavour). There are also non-AOP raclette cheeses produced elsewhere in Switzerland and France. The accompaniments are fixed: waxy boiled potatoes (not floury), cornichons, and pickled onions. Nothing else is traditional. Gruyère (the cheese in fondue): a hard Alpine cheese from the canton of Fribourg — named after the town of Gruyères. Aged 5 months to 18+ months; the longer-aged versions develop complex, nutty, slightly crystalline characteristics. Gruyère AOP (Protected Designation of Origin) must be made from raw milk. Distinguished from French Gruyère, which has holes. Swiss Gruyère has no holes. Appenzeller: a washed-rind Alpine cheese rubbed with a herbal brine formula that has been kept secret since 1380 — the most distinctively flavoured of the major Swiss cheeses. Emmental (AOS): the large-hole Swiss cheese recognisable worldwide — holes (eyes) formed by Propionibacterium freudenreichii bacteria producing CO2 during ripening. The larger the holes, the more strongly flavoured.
