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Milk chocolate, whipped cream, wine-spiked cheese fondue: all of Switzerland's best flavors start at the dairy farm. On my hiking trip, no meal was better than the breakfast of black bread spread with fresh sweet butter that I had on an excursion to a mountaintop farm.
We arrived at the Mottier family's farmhouse in Col de Coux, a short drive from Villars, at 9 a.m. The Mottiers take part in a regional program that allows visitors to observe old-fashioned artisanal techniques. While grandmère brewed coffee, her son and grandson heated that morning's milk in a copper cauldron over a wood fire. Then they lifted the curds in a huge cheesecloth and packed them into round wooden molds. After three months' aging, they would emerge as the superior Gruyère called l'Etivaz. The men also turn the whey into a fresh, ricottalike cheese, and part of each day's milk is churned into the creamy butter that we spread on our bread.
To arrange a tour, call the Canton of Vaud Tourist Office at 011-41-21-613-26-26.
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