On our final day of the trip, we took a rental van along the coast of Lake Leman (a.k.a. Lake Geneva) and to the northeast to the foothills of the Alps, to the town of Gruyères.
We first visited the factory of Swiss chocolate manufacturer Cailler, which opened its doors in 1898 focusing on producing milk and hazelnut chocolate on a larger scale than ever before. In 1905 Cailler first cooperated with rival chocolate company Nestle, with whom they would later merge with entirely in 1929.
Cailler’s claim to fame is that they are the only Swiss chocolate manufacturer in the world to uses condensed milk rather than powdered milk, also originating from the Alpine Gruyère region – a product famous in of itself. The company states that this is how they achieve the rich and smooth flavor incomparable to the competition.
The tour of the factory began with this and other noteworthy history of the company and the factory itself, with numerous demonstrations and little toy models to illustrate the story – several of which were interesting and fun, others quite startling. For example, shown here is a light-hearted diorama of Spanish aristocrats first discovering the first form of a chocolate drink called chocolātl after the Latin American delicacy was brought back to Europe for the first time in the 16th century.
The tour also included other information tidbits such as the geographical factors of chocolate production, mapping the sources of all the ingredients that go into a Cailler chocolate bar – in the map below we can see they purchase cocoa beans from Madagascar to California. They even had samples of each of their ingredients for patrons to see, touch, feel, and smell. The tour continued to highlight the entire production process and explain the steps in each phase and showcase who is involved with what; for example, Jon-Pierre the truck driver that delivers milk from the dairy farm to the factory each day.
At the conclusion of the tour a mini version of the production line is shown, with real chocolates being produced and packaged. A small sample is offered at the end of the display, freshly wrapped for our tasting pleasure.
After some photo ops with the Alps as the backdrop, the group rode over to La Maison de Gruyere, a.k.a. the cheese factory. There we were taking on an audio tour of the gruyere cheese production process and its history, and why they care so much about the “AOP” sticker on each package. AOP, or appellation d’origine protégée (protected designation of origin) is the guaranteed seal that is only put on cheese from a few specific regions of Switzerland: the cantons of Fribourg, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Jura, and Berne. This ensures that no other cheese in the world can claim to be crafted from careful Swiss hands, and if does in fact claim such an origin, it can be disproven and legally reprimanded.
Several of us took advantage of our geographic location and gorged ourselves in the protected cheese of western Switzerland, ordering everything from grilled cheese to multiple orders of fondue. I personally am guilty of dipping everything within a three-foot radius of my plate into the hot bat of gooey goodness.
Overall, it could not have been a more enjoyable last day to a wonderful trip. The gorgeous scenes along the drive and views from inland villages were breathtaking; honestly, the mountains are probably what I will remember most from a pretty memorable trip.
