Glarner Schabziger

the pale-green alpine herb cheese of Glarus, protected by a Swiss ordinance of 1463: dry skimmed-milk curd pounded with powdered blue fenugreek and pressed into a hard cone, too pungent to slice and meant to be grated

Origin: Canton Glarus, Switzerland

From the journey of Fenugreek.

Schabziger is one of the oldest and strangest cheeses of Switzerland, and its flavouring is one of the more improbable facts in the geography of spice: the herb ground into it is blue fenugreek (Trigonella caerulea), the very same plant that the Georgians call utskho suneli and pound into their walnut sauces at the other end of Europe. It is not the seed of the common fenugreek but the whole dried and powdered flowering top, gentler and greener in flavour, and it stains the cheese a pale sage-green and gives it an aroma of extraordinary pungency. The cheese is made from the curd of skimmed cow's milk, ripened and dried until it is hard and crumbling, then milled with salt and the powdered herb and pressed into the small truncated cone in which it is sold. It is far too hard to slice and is intended to be grated: over pasta and potatoes, into the alpine macaroni dish Älplermagronen, or beaten with soft butter into the green spread Zigerbutter that goes on bread across German-speaking Switzerland. Its manufacture was regulated by a Glarus ordinance of 1463, which stamped each cone with a mark of origin, making Schabziger one of the earliest protected foods in Europe; tradition attributes the recipe to the monks of the valley some centuries earlier still. This is a home version, made from well-drained quark rather than from a day's milking, which produces a fresh, soft green cheese of the same flavour that firms as it dries.

Ingredients

Cheese

  • 750 g quark or dry-curd skimmed-milk cheese (low fat)
  • 3 tbsp ground dried blue fenugreek (utskho suneli)
  • 2 tsp fine sea salt

To Serve

  • 100 g softened unsalted butter (for Zigerbutter, optional)

Method

  1. Line a sieve with a double layer of muslin, tip in the quark, gather the cloth, and set the sieve over a bowl. Weigh the curd down with a plate and a tin and refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours, until it is very dry, firm, and crumbling.
  2. Turn the dry curd into a bowl and break it up thoroughly with a fork or work it in a mortar until it is fine and even, with no lumps.
  3. Add the salt and the ground blue fenugreek and work them through the curd until the colour is a completely even pale sage-green and the aroma is strong and grassy.
  4. Pack the mixture very firmly into a small cone-shaped mould, a clean ramekin, or a lined cup, pressing down hard to expel any air. Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
  5. Turn out the cheese and leave it uncovered in the refrigerator for a further day or two to dry and firm. Grate it over pasta or potatoes, or beat 2 tablespoons of the grated cheese with the softened butter to make Zigerbutter and spread it on rye bread.

Notes

Blue fenugreek is sold as utskho suneli in Georgian and Eastern European groceries, and sometimes as Zigerklee or Schabzigerklee in Swiss and German shops. Common fenugreek seed is a different species and a different part of the plant, and is far too bitter here; it will not work. Genuine Schabziger is aged for months and becomes rock-hard; this fresh home version is softer and milder and should be eaten within a week or two, kept wrapped in the refrigerator. Use the lowest-fat quark you can find, as the authentic cheese contains almost no fat at all, which is why it dries so hard.

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