We did go and have a fondue at a Swiss Restaurant in Sedona (AZ) as my 3rd generation cousins insisted. Cost a fortune, but it was real Swiss cheese and quite good.
You misread me. There are excellent imported Swiss cheese in the USA, as clear on this thread. You average Café/restaurant always offer 'Swiss' as a 'better and more expensive' option- but it is rarely or rather never Swiss. Not talking about 4* gourmet places here.
but Velveeta is Swiss! Well, it has Swiss origins.
In Argentina as well. 'Gruyere' has wholes....
The use of 'Swiss' in this case is Swiss style and not Swiss imported. And some 'Swiss' in the US is good. Some isn't.
Fondue in Sedona More likely Or [](http://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi8pIn3pILMAhWDr4MKHcxxApEQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fimgur.com%2Fgallery%2FU1CfAuN&psig=AFQjCNGO22hE56-wGi-A0AD6YenO25Go9A&ust=1460315938356440)
Exactly, that was my point entirely, thanks.
They've got some nerve passing that stuff off as Swiss - along with 'Italian' dressing, 'English' muffins, and 'French' fries...
Last week I was mildly surprised to find a wide selection of imported Swiss cheese in Loblaws in Toronto - Emmentaler & Gruyere and a few others in exactly the same packaging as in CH.
This intrigued me enough that I had to investigate. This article states
The Frankenstein behind the cheese creation was one Emil Frey, a Swiss cheesemaker who moved from Switzerland to upstate New York, where he worked in cheese factories in the late 1880s.
Yes you can buy original exported swiss cheese in any Wegmans cheese department. They have a special section for imported European cheese
are you talking about the packaged MRE cheese that fell from teh skies during WW2?
I remember buying a sandwich in New York during my first visit to the USA.
The guy making the sandwich asked if I wanted American or Swiss cheese.
I thought I'd have american since I'd never tasted an American cheese before..... it was kraft slices.
I was so disappointed
You can also blame the Swiss for those! Specifically Mr Gerber of Thun. They still sell his products here.
Have a look at this web site. Culture Cheese Magazine is the best English language cheese publication in the world (in my opinion) and although they publish articles about cheeses from all over the world they really push some great American artisan cheeses. I'll be in New York in a couple of weeks and will be visiting a couple of cheese shops that they have introduce me to.
I'm pretty sure they have a directory of good cheese shops throughout the states that sell European quality cheeses, but don't write off the new home grown varieties.
An American lady came to my cheese shop once and asked me where she could find good Swiss cheese in Zurich. I gave her a couple of recommendations that I know of but also told her that Migros and Coop also have some decent raw milk cheeses.
He reply? "Oh yes I've tried them, but I mean where can I get real American Swiss cheese?"
I was very polite and told her that there wasn't much of a market for it.
Aside from what the other posters have mentioned - Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Costco, Wegmans - if you have Harris Teeter up there, they have a quite decent cheese selection.
I found imported Appenzeller cheese in my local HT!
Also, don't discount farmers markets. Strolling through our neighborhood market with my husband, we found a cheese stall with proper German quark.
Lastly, restaurants. Chefs have the "hook-ups" with the good stuff. Only works if you are a bit shameless (like me). Once I went to a restaurant that served stracchino and almost passed out for the excitement, because NO STORE, not even the above, carry it over here. They think they have stracchino, but it tastes nothing like the real stuff. Anyway, I asked the server to ask the chef where he/she gets it, guy comes out and tells me he imports it periodically along with other stuff.
I flirted for a good cause (the cheese cause!!!) and got him to give me a call whenever he gets the stracchino shipments, and to sell me some for a price that won't break my bank. Those "stracchino is here!" calls are the best ever to get
so expensive
Umm, stracchino is like the cheapest cheese food you can get in Italy, how much did it cost in the US?
Tom
Hate to throw a monkey wrench into your argument, but you do know what an Engländer is in Switzerland, don't you?
Yes, like Root Beer and Oreos in Switzerland! You want "exotic" foods, you pay the premium, everywhere. Otherwise, you can stick with the excellent local options, but the OP was specifically asking for Swiss cheese in the USA. As someone said, there are many excellent local cheese options in the USA, it's not all a yellow slab of dubious origins
I have a stracchino fetish/addiction. This is the sad truth.
It was on the restaurant menu served on top of a piece of bread with "fancy" herbs, I honestly don't recall the price of that appetizer but it was probably typical DC prices (i.e. not low ). The chef sells it to me in the low teens per pound - again, not the cheapest option, but happy to pay because it makes my eyes and my stomach smile!
Depends where you are in the US, but Trader Joes surprisingly carries pre-sliced Raclette cheese during the winter months that fits onto a Raclette dish, in case you bring the grill over. Interestingly, there is no record of trader joes carrying this product, the only thing I found to support my personal experience was this article http://frenchgirlinseattle.com/trade...-french-finds/
What does it taste like? Have never ever found pre-sliced raclette cheese worthy of the name. If I am going to have the calories of raclette, it has to be the best Bagnes (small valley near Verbier)- nothing else will do.
One of the best presents I ever gave OH, for his 60th- is a proper raclette machine which holds 2 half wheels of Bagnes at the same time - tastes even better somehow- and friends take it in turn to 'man' the scraping (râcler).
its actually pretty good. I mean I'm not that picky, but the taste is the same -its still very smelly and an excellent somehow at the same time.