What the Challerhocker?!

We came across this interesting sounding cheese, and thought, "why not?" If it sounds funny, maybe it will taste delicious. This is another one that we got from C'est Cheese in Santa Barbara, CA.  It's a fantastic, quaint little cheese shop (which also has a delicious lunch menu) off the beaten in SB.  We love it there!

So, we got some Challerhocker, and looked it up without much initial success. But we kept at it, because I'm a research addict. Turns out, this is a lesser known relative of Appenzeller, and it hails from Switzerland - and what is with the swiss names for cheeses? They're so silly!

Time for a not-so-ancient-history-lesson: A man named Walter Rass, who is renowned for being an Appenzeller maker, tweaked his recipe for Appenzeller and created a brand new breed of cheese: Challerhocker. We haven't had Appenzeller yet but it sounds like Challerhocker isn't much like its granddad cheese.  It is cooked a little bit differently, and aged for 10 months in a cellar (and it's name translates to "sitting in the celler") and washed with wine and rubbed with a super top secret mix of herbs and spices before we ever get the chance to try it. And it sounds like this process makes it vastly different from the old fogey Appenzeller.
** If anyone knows, please correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds to me like Challerhocker is a recently invented cheese (since Walter Rass is still alive and handcrafting his original Challerhocker) and that it is only made by this one guy for one company in one town in Switzerland. To me, that sounds like a pretty spectacular cheese.  And, it has made such a name for itself that it's carried regularly at a small specialty cheese shop in SB... so it must be pretty good!

Enough with the disclaimers. Let's get munching!

Challerhocker is a firm, whitish cheese with a brown waxy rind. It has small holes in it like popular Swiss cheese, but its nothing like it. It's creamy, not at all plastic-y. And it's got those tiny little lactic acid crystals in it like we found in the Gouda. It melts on your tongue, if you have enough self-control to keep it there for a minute! As you can probably guess, we're not very good at that part. And now for the flavor. Very interesting, not like anything else we've tried. It's earthy, and nutty and has a very weird spice component. It reminded me of a spicy walnut rolled in dirt.  In a good way.  Alan and I argued (nicely) about how spicy it is... he says barely, with a slight acidity, and I say it's in-your-face spicy. Apparently, its only in my face. It literally burns my tongue, like black pepper. And don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy it. Probably because I love pepper.  I'm personally amazed that this cheese has such a crazy depth of flavor, which is actually what it is gaining so much notoriety for. It also has very little dairy flavor, which is refreshing - not like the rancid bleu cheese Alan made me eat last week. Yuck. The Challerhocker doesn't taste like sour milk at all. Hooray!

According to Cowgirl Creamery, which is a cheesemaker a few hours north of us, Challerhocker is supposed to taste a little bit like caramel, sweet cream, brown butter, and melted leeks. Leeks!? I've never had a leek... but it's related to onion, so that makes sense. Onions have a certain spiciness - In-your-face eye-burning spiciness. Tone it down a few notches, and you've got Challerhocker. We picked up on a little bit of the sweetness, too, so it looks like we're getting a little bit better at this.

So, I think this might be one of my favorites so far. Go Switzerland! I really like thats is so unique and un-cheesey. Alan likes that it is a light creamy cheese, without the pungent flavor that swiss cheeses can have. "It's good!" he says.  Highly recommended :) If you come across it, shell out the cash and get a small wedge... it goes for about $32/lb. But, for authentic, imported, one of a kind, original recipe cheesy goodness, it's worth it.  And tell us about your cheese adventures!

-Ashleigh