Schabziger () or sapsago is traditional

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During productio ...

exclusively produced in the

Canton of Glarus The canton of Glarus (german: Kanton Glarus rm, Chantun Glaruna; french: Canton de Glaris; it, Canton Glarona) is a canton in east central Switzerland. The capital is Glarus. The population speaks a variety of Alemannic German. The majority of ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Schabziger is made out of the skimmed cow

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulat ...

and a special kind of

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicina ...

, blue fenugreek (''

Trigonella caerulea ''Trigonella caerulea'' (blue fenugreek, blue melilot, ka, ულუმბო, უცხო სუნელი - ''ulumbo'', ''utskho suneli'')) is an annual herb in the family Fabaceae. It is 30–60 cm tall. Its leaves are obovate or lan ...

''), also called blue melilot. The milk and melilot sap are heated to then an acid (lactic, citric or acetic) is added causing curdling. The

whey Whey is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a byproduct of the manufacturing of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is a byproduct resulting from the manufacture of rennet types of har ...

and

curd Curd is obtained by coagulating milk in a sequential process called curdling. It can be a final dairy product or the first stage in cheesemaking. The coagulation can be caused by adding rennet or any edible acidic substance such as l ...

are separated. The whey is further curdled at and separated. The whey-condensate is called ''Ziger'' and is pressed into cones for 6 to 8 days. The cones are then dried for 2 to 6 months. The resulting cheese is hard, green with a strong flavor and aroma. It is usually conditioned as cones of with a height of . It contains less than 3% fat. Schabziger is usually eaten grated, or mixed with

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condim ...

to make an herb spread ("Ankeziger", "Zigerbutter") that is put on

bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

es. It can also be used in fondue (''Zigerfondue''), or grated and eaten with noodles (''Zigerhörnli'') or

rösti Rösti or rööschti () is a Swiss dish consisting mainly of potatoes, sautéed or shallow-fried in a pan. It was originally a breakfast dish, commonly eaten by farmers in the canton of Bern, but is now eaten all over Switzerland and around th ...

. A cone of Schabziger can be conserved for weeks in the fridge. Schabziger was first mentioned in connection to its sale on the markets of

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Z ...

in 1429. The exact specification on how to make this cheese was laid down during a

Landsgemeinde The ''Landsgemeinde'' ("cantonal assembly"; , plural ''Landsgemeinden'') is a public, non-secret ballot voting system operating by majority rule, which constitutes one of the oldest forms of direct democracy. Still at use – in a few places � ...

in 1463. The cheese also has to bear a stamp of origin, making it one of the earliest protected brands. Schabziger is produced exclusively by Geska (Gesellschaft Schweizer Kräuterkäse-Fabrikanten). It is sold abroad under the name ''Swiss Green Cheese''. In the US it is also sold under the brand Sap Sago. Sap Sago was introduced into New York pharmacies in the 19th century. The name is a corruption of the German word Schabziger, though

folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

has it that the green herb juice used made to make the cheese was called "sap", as in tree sap.

References

External links

*
Geska
{{Portal bar, Food, Switzerland Swiss cheeses Cow's-milk cheeses Culinary Heritage of Switzerland

See also

References

External links