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Cailler Chocolate and Gruyere Cheese

Amanda
Jan 20, 2016
2 min read

As most of you know, I chose to come to Switzerland for the chocolate, cheese, and alps. Last Friday was possibly the best day possible because I was lucky enough to tour the Cailler Chocolate Factory, Gruyere Cheese Factory, and to spend the day in a little town surrounded by the Gruyere Mountains. AKA, I was in heaven!

The day began taking a train from Geneva to the chocolate factory, which is right outside the town of Gruyere! The train rode straight along Lake Geneva and with clear skies, the view of the Alps were breath taking! The picture was taken from my phone so it's not the best, but no picture could show how truly beautiful the mountains were!

The Cailler chocolate factory was something no one should miss!!! For a mere $9, it was one of the best factories I have ever been to. The beginning was a theatrical tour through the history of chocolate, where it came from and why it is so big in Switzerland. We then were able to see who they get their supplies from and try real cocobeans! We then saw how the machines worked to make their famous little chocolates. At the end of the machine there was a plate full of samples that we could *test*. AKA we stuffed our faces thinking this was the only chocolate we would sample.. Oh how we were wrong. We learned the 6 steps in being a true chocolate test taster. The end was the most amazing part of the tour.. Believe it or not, UNLIMITED CHOCOLATE! That's right, unlimited. All different kinds of chocolate Cailler makes you were able to test taste and man did we make a dent in their chocolate. The lesson I took away from here is that if you think you can never stop eating chocolate, you're wrong, there will come a time when you can't eat chocolate no longer.

After that stomach ache we went over to the Gruyere cheese factory for an even bigger stomach ache! Unforauntely, we did not get unlimited free cheese.. but rather 3 samples of cheese that has been chillin' 6 months, 3 months, and a year. Of course, that wasn't enough for our stomachs so we sat at the cheese factory restaurant and got some.... you guessed it.. fondue, of course! This time, the fondue came not only with bread and potatoes, but pickles and garlic balls and they were delicious!!! Who would have though, pickles and fondue! The cheese factory was cool but nothing extraordinary, just a pot of cheese was about it.

The town of Gruyere and the castle on the hill is what made this cheese filled town the best!! The views over looked the Gruyere mountains and the castle over looked the little town!! All and all, you can clearly see why this day was one of my favorites so far. Never ending chocolate, fondue, and Gruyere mountains, that's why I came here!