Visiting Alp Maran
Posted by Sonja Hoffmann on
Here at RacletteCorner we like to have a personal connection with our customers and our vendors. So when the opportunity arose for our youngest team member to visit Switzerland we had to make sure that he would check out "our" alp in Arosa.
Almost 365 turns mark the way up the mountains from Chur (capital of Graubuenden, Switzerland) to Arosa. Alp Maran, or Sennerei Maran as they are called in Switzerland is just above Arosa.
At about 5900 feet the travelers are greeted by grazing cows right in front of the Sennerei which houses a restaurant and shop to enjoy their many different dairy products.
Inside, team RacletteCorner (Jimmy and his grandparents) is being greeted by master cheese maker Walter Niklaus for a tour of the facility.
The production is in full swing. Thanks to the weather, they had a late start but they were able to make up for the delay and have already 1000 wheels in the cellar. The process starts by getting the milk via underground pipelines from the 4 different alps. The pipeline is water cooled to ensure the freshness of the milk. During the summer, Alp Maran transforms about 100.000 gallons of milk from about 400 cows into cheese and other dairy products. (Alp Carmenna, Alp Sattel and Alp Praetschli)
The milk is put in a big vat . Curd and whey are separated and pressed into molds. After a process of turning and pressing, the cheese is being put in a brine bath and then stored in shelves. The wheels are now being turned and washed in regular intervals until they have aged enough. Learn more about the process of cheese making here.
Some of these wheels are raclette cheeses, available in October here.
After the tour and some sampling, our RacletteCorner team enjoyed a refreshment outside.
The view from here is spectacular!
It seems that the cows know very well how lucky they are to be on Alp Maran.
What a great trip! Arosa and the surrounding mountains are beautiful, Alp Maran and it's employees are the nicest people and the cheese is, at 5900 feet, heavenly! We can't wait for the delivery of our raclette cheese.