View source for Sbrinz

{{Short description|Swiss hard or very hard cheese}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox cheese
| name          = Sbrinz
| image         = File:Sbr product 0020 bc.jpg
| country       = [[Switzerland]]
| region        = [[Central Switzerland]]
| town          =
| source        = 
| pasteurised   =
| texture       = hard and very hard
| fat           = 45%
| aging         = 24 to 30 months
| certification = [[Appellation d'origine contrôlée (Switzerland)|AOC]] and [[Appellation d'origine protégée (Switzerland)|AOP]]
|
}}
'''Sbrinz''' is a very hard cheese produced in [[Central Switzerland]]. It is often used as grated cheese in [[Swiss cuisine]], although it is also eaten in small pieces. The cheese is produced in only 42 dairies in Central Switzerland. Only local cow's milk is used when producing this cheese. It is kept in the region until ready for consumption. It is the hardest of [[Swiss cheeses and dairy products|Swiss cheeses]] together with [[Berner Hobelkäse]].

Sbrinz probably got its name from the town of [[Brienz]] in the [[Bernese Oberland]]. In the 16th and 17th centuries, there was a collecting point for both cheeses from the Oberland and Central Switzerland. Most of the cheese was then transported from there across the Alps. Customers in northern Italy soon named the cheese "Sbrinz" after this place. The term then also became common in Switzerland. A second explanation is based on the adoption of the Lombard dialect word "sbrinzo", a term for hard cheese.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.patrimoineculinaire.ch/Produkte?text=&canton=&categorie=4#352 | title=Sbrinz (AOP) | publisher=[[Culinary Heritage of Switzerland]] | accessdate=30 January 2023}}</ref>

==Character==
Sbrinz is an extra hard full fat cheese. It contains approximately 40% to 45% of fat when dry. The cheese must ripen for 16 months before it can be sold as Sbrinz, and the full flavour only develops after about 24–30 months in storage.<ref name="Erbe">{{Kulinarischeserbe.ch|352}}</ref>

==History==
Sbrinz is one of the oldest European cheeses. The Celtic ancestors of the Swiss were making cheese centuries before the birth of Christ.<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Weinzweig
  | first = Art
  | author2 = Judy Ridgway
  | title = The Cheese Companion: The Connoisseur's Guide
  | publisher = Running Press
  | year = 2004
  | page = 16
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bV1RVgNe_5wC
  | isbn = 0-7624-1956-3
  }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In the first century AD, Roman writer [[Columella]] (or [[Pliny the Elder]]) mentions in his writings ''Caseus Helveticus'', which is probably Sbrinz.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnw3DwAAQBAJ | title=Global Cheesemaking Technology: Cheese Quality and Characteristics | publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] | author1=Papademas, Photis | author2=Bintsis, Thomas | year=2017 | pages=190 | isbn=9781119046172 |quote=The production of [Swiss] cheese was mentioned for the first time in the first century by Roman historian Pliny the Elder, who called the cheese ''Caseus Helveticus'', the 'cheese of the Helvetians', one of the tribes living in Switzerland at the time.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DwtmCgAAQBAJ | title=The Cheese Handbook: Over 250 Varieties Described, with Recipes | publisher=[[Courier Dover Publications]] | author=Layton, Thomas Arthur | year=1973 | pages=130 | isbn=9780486229553 |quote=the ''caseus helveticus'' mentioned by Columella was probably a Sbrinz}}</ref> It seems certain, however, that it is mentioned in documents dating from 1530, which are kept in the state archive in [[Bern]].<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Roth
  | first = Alfred G.
  | title = "Der Sbrinz" und die verwandten Bergkäse der Schweiz
  | publisher = ED Emmentaller Druck
  | year = 1993
  | location = Burgdorf
  | page = 2
  | url = http://www.sbrinz.ch/__/frontend/handler/document.php?id=797&type=42
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100829140442/http://www.sbrinz.ch/__/frontend/handler/document.php?id=797&type=42
  | archive-date = 29 August 2010
  | url-status = live
  | oclc = 884417427
}}</ref>

Starting in 2001, Sbrinz was granted an [[Appellation d'origine contrôlée (Switzerland)|''appellation d'origine contrôlée'']] (AOC) certification. The AOC provides specifications for the origin of the milk and the processes that must be followed in order for the cheese to be labeled as Sbrinz. In 2013, this was replaced by the [[Appellation d'origine protégée (Switzerland)|''appellation d'origine protégée'']] (AOP) certification.

[[File:CH.BE.Guttannen Via-Sbrinz Aare-River Grosse-Boegelisbrueggli 2021-08-25 mule-track 2382 OrigX-R 8192x4608.jpg|thumb|center|upright=1.2|Muleteers on the Via Sbrinz, a former trade route between Central Switzerland and Italy.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.schweizmobil.ch/en/wanderland/itineraires/route-040.html | title=ViaSbrinz | publisher=Switzerland Mobility | accessdate=30 January 2023 |quote=In the late Middle Ages, the «Sbrinz» hard cheese became a top Inner Switzerland export at the markets of Northern Italy. Not least because the mule track over the Grimsel and Gries Passes became a well- developed trade route.}}</ref>]]

==Consumption==
[[File:Sbrinz.jpg|thumb|A five-year-old Sbrinz]]Sbrinz is commonly consumed in several ways: it can be grated, such as on pasta, or eaten in small pieces, often to accompany wine. Traditionally, Sbrinz is never cut, but grated, broken with a special cutter, or planed. It is also eaten in thin slices planed from the hard cheese. Sbrinz is often simply enjoyed with bread and butter.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}{{Unbalanced opinion|date=February 2025}}

==See also==
* [[List of Swiss cheeses]]
* [[Bergkäse]]
* [[Culinary Heritage of Switzerland]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Sbrinz (cheese)}}
* [http://www.sbrinz.ch/ Official page] – in German, French, Italian and English.
*{{Kulinarischeserbe.ch|352}}

{{Swiss cheeses}}
{{Cuisine of Switzerland}}
{{Portal bar|Food|Switzerland}}

[[Category:Swiss cheeses]]
[[Category:Cow's-milk cheeses]]
[[Category:Culinary Heritage of Switzerland]]