Search Results for: swiss
Gruyere Cheese
Gruyere (groo-yair) is one of our favorite imported cheeses. Some call it a French cheese while others insist it is from Switzerland. It originated in the Alpine region between Switzerland and France in the eleventh century.Gruyere Cheese is sweet but slightly salty. It has a flavor that varies widely with age. It is often described as creamy and nutty when it is young, becoming more assertive with age , earthy, and complex. When fully aged (five months to a year) it tends to have small holes and cracks which impart a slightly grainy mouthfeel.
Gruyere cheese is generally known as one of the finest cheeses for baking, having a distinctive, yet not overpowering taste. In quiche, gruyere cheese adds savoriness without overwhelming the other ingredients. It is a good melting cheese, particularly suited for fondues, along with Vacherin and emmental (commonly known Swiss cheese). It is also traditionally used in French onion soup, as well as in croque monsieur, a classic French toasted ham and cheese sandwich. Gruyere cheese is also used in chicken and veal cordon bleu. It is a fine table cheese, and when grated, it is often used with salads and pastas. It is used, grated, atop le tourin, a type of garlic soup from France which is served on dried bread.
History of Gruyere Cheese
While gruyere cheese is often designated as a French Cheese, it actually originated in Switzerland. It was named after the town of Gruyères in Switzerland, and originated in the cantons of Fribourg, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Jura, and Berne. Before 2001, when gruyere cheese gained Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) status as a Swiss cheese, some controversy existed whether French cheeses of a similar nature could also be labeled Gruyere cheese. (French gruyere-style cheeses include Comté and Beaufort.) French gruyere-style cheeses must have holes according to French agricultural law, whereas holes are usually not present in Swiss gruyere.
Wine Pairing for Gruyere Cheese
Beaujolais, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Syrah are all good red wines to pair with gruyere. White wines, such as Riesling and Chardonnay, pair well with gruyere. Sparkling apple cider and Bock beer are also beverage affinities.
Lucerne Cheese
Lucerne Cheese is another of our local selections, made in Charm, Ohio by the original producer Guggisberg Cheese. Some of Our other Signature local cheeses include Swiss, Baby Swiss, Sharp Swiss, Amish Butter Cheese, Yogurt Cheese, and several variations of each. Lucerne Cheese is a young, semi-soft cheese with small holes, similar to Baby Swiss. Lucerne Cheese is lower in fat and sodium and has smaller holes and a milder flavor. Lucerne Cheese has a light and smooth flavor, a delicious favorite for those counting calories or watching their sodium intake.
History of Lucerne Cheese
Lucerne Cheese is another fine product of the Guggisberg Cheese Company which was started in 1967 just outside of Charm, Ohio by cheese connoisseur Alfred Guggisberg, an alumnus of the famous Swiss Federal “Molkereishulle” (cheese maker’s institute). Lucerne Cheese is a newer addition to their family of cheeses which began with the original Baby Swiss. In response to many of their patrons who are choosing healthier lifestyles, they added this cheese that contains less fat and sodium than most cheeses.
Wine Pairing for Lucerne Cheese
Lucerne Cheese pairs very well with numerous wines. The most popular pairings are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Beaujolais and Pinot Noir are also great matches. If you prefer white wine, Chardonnay, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc pair well with Lucerne Cheese. And for the beer lover, Lucerne Cheese goes well with Lager, Pale Ale, and Weiss Beer.
Baby Beets (32 Oz.)
Walnut Creek Baby Beets have a flavor unlike any other! These beets are flavored with a touch of cinnamon and spices and make a delicious healthy snack or side dish. Use the juice to make a batch of delicious pickled red beet eggs. Each case consists of twelve, fourteen or thirty-two ounce jars.History of Walnut Creek FoodsFrom Walnut Creek Foods President, Mark Coblentz…”It all started with a pickup truck and a slide-in refrigerated box in April 1977. I was 21years old with more spunk than sense. A cousin told me about an opportunity where a local fellow had a cheese route for sale. I struck a deal that put me in business. There was a little problem, though: The previous route owner neglected to tell me that he had quit the route a month before, and I happened to be the first guy who came along. The business really wasn’t much more than that pickup truck, an assortment of 20 local products and a list of about 60 potential customers.
Early on a Tuesday morning I filled my truck and headed for Northeastern Ohio, peddling cheese and Trail Bologna to retail stores. Since I was using the previous owner’s invoices, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to pronounce one of the items listed—cheddar cheese—because I didn’t know if it was pronounced chead-er(like “header”) orcheed-er(like “reader”). My cheese experience at that time was limited to having tasted four varieties: Swiss, Baby Swiss, Longhorn and occasionally a Casino Brick.
Anyway, I was excited when the first store ordered two wheels of Baby Swiss and three rings of Trail Bologna—about $15 worth of product. I calculated that with 60 stores on my customer list, I could sell $900 for the week. The only problem was that the manager at the next store told me he didn’t need anything. That certainly burst my bubble. But I had an even greater disappointment later that first day when I learned that the largest customer had traveled to Holmes County to buy product directly from the manufacturer because the previous route owner hadn’t shown up for nearly a month.
It was all a great learning experience. I think my new customers sensed how hard I was trying to serve them. In fact, the large client who showed me the door the first day became one of my best customers after I showed up every week for six months. “You’ve earned my trust,” he told me. “I know you won’t leave me high and dry.” More than 30 years later his store is still an active customer.
Another customer took me under wing and helped me gain a number of new accounts. Because of these new clients’ requests, I soon realized that just 20 varieties of cheese weren’t meeting my customers’ needs. I began checking out additional products. I figured since I was already delivering at a store, I might as well maximize my marketing potential. Even though I didn’t have the benefit of education—or even experience—behind me, I did have a significant edge. That edge was that my parents had raised me with Christian values. My parents are conservative Amish Mennonite, and they had taught me to go the extra mile. They also taught me the importance of honesty.
Honesty and integrity have always been hallmarks of our company. Early on, one of my new customers received a three-cent credit from me. It convinced her that we were a company she wanted to do business with. She became a lifelong fan of Walnut Creek Cheese and a friend of the family. My first warehouse was a couple of refrigerated truck beds and a shed on my dad’s farm. In 1984, when more space became necessary, we built our first building in Walnut Creek, Ohio. We attached a retail store to it, primarily so I could justify having personnel to answer the phone for wholesale orders and pick-ups. Although the retail store began as an afterthought, it was the beginning of us becoming a team. In an interesting development, the retail exposure and knowledge of products needed to make retail successful were used to better serve our wholesale customers as well.
With both wholesale and retail in place, our next focus was manufacturing. My brother Jason and I formed Coblentz Chocolate Company in 1987. This venture further piqued our interest in manufacturing more of our own foods, leading to the acquisition of Snyder Foods in 1994 and Holmes Distributing in 1995. Both of these companies had been friendly competitors in the wholesale trade. They also manufactured several categories of food. Snyder Foods cooked jams, jellies and fudge. Holmes Distributing made cheese spreads. With these acquisitions we were able to achieve further efficiency. Now stores could buy from one company instead of three. Purchasing and picking up products also were more efficient.
Our team further maximized potential by opening our second retail store, this one in Berlin, in 1996—and acquiring Uncle Mike’s Beef Jerky in 1998. The tantalizing taste of Uncle Mike’s Beef Jerky made it a mouth-watering complement to our line of manufactured foods.
Acquisitions played a large part in the early growth of our company because our growth was directly linked to the friendliness we extended to our competitors. By not soliciting their customers, we treated them as we would want to be treated. Also, if any of our competitors were going to be short a product for their routes, they could count on us to supply it to them at a price that was just above our cost. I believe this was a factor in the management of these companies talking to us when they were ready to sell their businesses.
Because of these acquisitions we moved our wholesale operations to Millersburg for a period of three years. Our vision was to build a new warehouse in Walnut Creek. This dream was fulfilled in 1997 when we constructed our new warehouse facility. We designed our warehouse so that we could wrap our retail outlet around it when we outgrew our existing retail locations in Walnut Creek and Berlin. This happened in 2002. We were able to use the high ceilings and mezzanines from the warehouse to display the antiques and nostalgic items that I’ve collected over the years. This created a unique shopping experience as we continued to serve our customers with our low prices and Walnut Creek quality.
The response to the new store was overwhelming, and our customer count (both wholesale and retail) grew so much that we needed more space. We made a decision to build a new wholesale distribution center. This 60,000-square-foot facility was completed in 2007 and today serves more than 1,400 wholesale customers who feature Walnut Creek Foods products in their stores. This move vacated a large part of our back room that we converted to retail. We were able to give our departments more space to serve our customers better. We continued the nostalgic theme in our design because we truly have values that are time-tested. Today our customers continue to talk to their friends about our store. We’re seeing new people in our store every week. Why do folks want to do business with us? Because …
They trust us.
They know we deliver value.
We’re blessed with 220 associates who have the customers’ best interests at heart.
We treat others like we want to be treated.
Visiting our store is just plain fun!”Shisler’s Cheese House is a proud supplier of Walnut Creek foods!
Hot Pickled Garlic (14 Oz.)
Description of Walnut Creek Hot Pickled Garlic Walnut Creek Hot Pickled Garlic is an Amish classic. From the heart of Ohio’s Amish Country Walnut Creek. History From Walnut Creek Foods President, Mark Coblentz…”It all started with a pickup truck and a slide-in refrigerated box in April 1977. I was 21years old with more spunk than sense. A cousin told me about an opportunity where a local fellow had a cheese route for sale. I struck a deal that put me in business. There was a little problem, though: The previous route owner neglected to tell me that he had quit the route a month before, and I happened to be the first guy who came along. The business really wasn’t much more than that pickup truck, an assortment of 20 local products and a list of about 60 potential customers.
Early on a Tuesday morning I filled my truck and headed for Northeastern Ohio, peddling cheese and Trail Bologna to retail stores. Since I was using the previous owner’s invoices, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to pronounce one of the items listed—cheddar cheese—because I didn’t know if it was pronounced chead-er(like “header”) orcheed-er(like “reader”). My cheese experience at that time was limited to having tasted four varieties: Swiss, Baby Swiss, Longhorn and occasionally a Casino Brick.
Anyway, I was excited when the first store ordered two wheels of Baby Swiss and three rings of Trail Bologna—about $15 worth of product. I calculated that with 60 stores on my customer list, I could sell $900 for the week. The only problem was that the manager at the next store told me he didn’t need anything. That certainly burst my bubble. But I had an even greater disappointment later that first day when I learned that the largest customer had traveled to Holmes County to buy product directly from the manufacturer because the previous route owner hadn’t shown up for nearly a month.
It was all a great learning experience. I think my new customers sensed how hard I was trying to serve them. In fact, the large client who showed me the door the first day became one of my best customers after I showed up every week for six months. “You’ve earned my trust,” he told me. “I know you won’t leave me high and dry.” More than 30 years later his store is still an active customer.
Another customer took me under wing and helped me gain a number of new accounts. Because of these new clients’ requests, I soon realized that just 20 varieties of cheese weren’t meeting my customers’ needs. I began checking out additional products. I figured since I was already delivering at a store, I might as well maximize my marketing potential. Even though I didn’t have the benefit of education—or even experience—behind me, I did have a significant edge. That edge was that my parents had raised me with Christian values. My parents are conservative Amish Mennonite, and they had taught me to go the extra mile. They also taught me the importance of honesty.
Honesty and integrity have always been hallmarks of our company. Early on, one of my new customers received a three-cent credit from me. It convinced her that we were a company she wanted to do business with. She became a lifelong fan of Walnut Creek Cheese and a friend of the family. My first warehouse was a couple of refrigerated truck beds and a shed on my dad’s farm. In 1984, when more space became necessary, we built our first building in Walnut Creek, Ohio. We attached a retail store to it, primarily so I could justify having personnel to answer the phone for wholesale orders and pick-ups. Although the retail store began as an afterthought, it was the beginning of us becoming a team. In an interesting development, the retail exposure and knowledge of products needed to make retail successful were used to better serve our wholesale customers as well.
With both wholesale and retail in place, our next focus was manufacturing. My brother Jason and I formed Coblentz Chocolate Company in 1987. This venture further piqued our interest in manufacturing more of our own foods, leading to the acquisition of Snyder Foods in 1994 and Holmes Distributing in 1995. Both of these companies had been friendly competitors in the wholesale trade. They also manufactured several categories of food. Snyder Foods cooked jams, jellies and fudge. Holmes Distributing made cheese spreads. With these acquisitions we were able to achieve further efficiency. Now stores could buy from one company instead of three. Purchasing and picking up products also were more efficient.
Our team further maximized potential by opening our second retail store, this one in Berlin, in 1996—and acquiring Uncle Mike’s Beef Jerky in 1998. The tantalizing taste of Uncle Mike’s Beef Jerky made it a mouth-watering complement to our line of manufactured foods.
Acquisitions played a large part in the early growth of our company because our growth was directly linked to the friendliness we extended to our competitors. By not soliciting their customers, we treated them as we would want to be treated. Also, if any of our competitors were going to be short a product for their routes, they could count on us to supply it to them at a price that was just above our cost. I believe this was a factor in the management of these companies talking to us when they were ready to sell their businesses. Because of these acquisitions we moved our wholesale operations to Millersburg for a period of three years. Our vision was to build a new warehouse in Walnut Creek. This dream was fulfilled in 1997 when we constructed our new warehouse facility. We designed our warehouse so that we could wrap our retail outlet around it when we outgrew our existing retail locations in Walnut Creek and Berlin. This happened in 2002. We were able to use the high ceilings and mezzanines from the warehouse to display the antiques and nostalgic items that I’ve collected over the years. This created a unique shopping experience as we continued to serve our customers with our low prices and Walnut Creek quality.
The response to the new store was overwhelming, and our customer count (both wholesale and retail) grew so much that we needed more space. We made a decision to build a new wholesale distribution center. This 60,000-square-foot facility was completed in 2007 and today serves more than 1,400 wholesale customers who feature Walnut Creek Foods products in their stores. This move vacated a large part of our back room that we converted to retail. We were able to give our departments more space to serve our customers better. We continued the nostalgic theme in our design because we truly have values that are time-tested. Today our customers continue to talk to their friends about our store. We’re seeing new people in our store every week.
Brick Cheese
Brick Cheese is made in the form of a large rectangular or brick shape, but may also be named “brick” because the cheese curds are pressed with clay-fired bricks. The color ranges from pale yellow to white, and the cheese has a sweet and mild flavor when young, and matures into a strong ripe cheese with age. It is medium-soft, crumbles easily and is somewhat sticky to the knife. Brick Cheese is well suited to slicing for sandwiches, specifically grilled cheese sandwiches, or appetizers and also melts very well. Brick Cheese is often served with corn polenta in the Midwest, where it is thinly sliced and melted underneath the polenta and then topped with tomato sauce.
History of Brick Cheese
Brick Cheese is actually an American original produced in Wisconsin. The cheese making process was derived from white American Cheddar that is cultured at a slightly higher temperature which results in a marginally higher fat content and a slightly altered protein structure. The resultant brick cheese has a slightly softer taste and a distinctly sharper finish.
Brick Cheese was created in 1877 by John Jossi, a Swiss-born American cheese maker. Jossi came to the states in 1857 from Switzerland with his parents at the age of 12. The family settled first in upstate New York, but later Jossi moved to Richwood, in southwest Wisconsin. He envisioned a cheese made with curd that was drier then that used for the Limburger he had produced in the factories he worked in. He came up with the idea of using bricks to press the cheese, which of course was formed into a brick shape.
Wine Pairing for Brick Cheese
Beaujolais, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Syrah are all good red wines to pair with brick cheese. White wines, such as Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc pair well with brick cheese. Brick Cheese is also a popular choice for beer lovers as it pairs well with Bock, Lager, Porter, or Stout.
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White Wine Cheese Collection
White Wine CollectionWine and cheese pairing can be difficult. One must select cheeses and wines that compliment each other perfectly without the flavors competing or overwhelming one another. This collection was specifically selected to pair well with most white wines. It includes generous cuts of Amish Butter Cheese, Wisconsin Brick Cheese, Gouda, and premium Amish Country Swiss Cheese.
If you like to entertain, this collection could serve up to 20 guests.
Wine is not provided.
Other Cheeses that pair well with White wine include:
- Gruyere
- Parmesan
- Mozzarella
- Provalone
Red Wine Collection
Red Wine CollectionWine and cheese pairing can be difficult. One must select cheeses and wines that compliment each other perfectly without the flavors competing or overwhelming one another. This collection was specifically selected to pair well with most Red wines.
It includes generous cuts of Asiago, Danish Blue Cheese, Gruyere, and Pecorino (Romano).
If you like to entertain, this collection serves up to 20 guests.
Wine is not provided.
Other Cheeses that pair well with Red wine include:
- Brick
- Parmesan
- Cheddar
- Havarti
- Ohio Premium Swiss
Beer Collection
Brick, Gouda, Gruyere, and Ohio Premium Swiss Cheese. Because beer has a stronger flavor, it pairs well with more bold cheeses. Beer pairs very well with Limburger and Beer Cheese, so named for being the ideal cheese to compliment beer. However, those particular cheeses are characterized by very strong smells, and have been described as being acquired tastes.
Therefore, they were not included in this collection, but can be ordered individually. If you like to entertain, this collection serves up to 20 guests. Beer is not provided. Other Cheeses that pair well with Beer include Amish Butter Cheese and Provalone.
Football Season Special
The only thing better than getting together with friends and watching the game this weekend is doing it with your favorite drinks and a custom spread of cheese and trail bologna from Shisler’s Cheese designed for the sports fan!
This package contains:
Swiss Cheese, Troyer’s Trail Bologna, Pepper Jack Cheese, Buggy Trail Mix, Shisler’s Private Label Mustard, Carr’s Crackers
Fall Harvest Collection
Fall Harvest Collection
All of the best flavors of Fall in Amish Country. Available for a limited time only.
This package includes:
- Baby Swiss Cheese (2 Lbs.)
- Streb Meats Smoked Sausage (1 Lb.)
- Cranberry Delight (1 Lb.)
- Pumpkin Muffin Mix Pumpkin Butter (Not Pictured) Popcorn on the Cob