Known for its fondue-ready texture and nutty taste, Swiss Gruyere has long been the cheese of choice for cooks who want something as smooth melting as mozzarella but with more complexity. But in the mountains just across the French border, there's another Alpine-style cheese that just might one-up this standard.
With flavors of fresh butter, citrus, hazelnuts, caramelized onions or chocolate, Comte is a cheese with more range than Meryl Streep and a texture just as seamless. It is a smooth, firm, butter-colored cheese that darkens at the rind. Most Comte found in the United States is 8 to 12 months old, but occasionally, an up to 2-year-old, more powerful Comte can be found at select cheesemongers.
Some say Comte's flavor resembles Gruyere's. It does a little, which is no surprise given its history.
Gruyere formerly was used as a catchall term to describe Rhone-Alpine-style cheese in the western French and eastern Swiss mountains until 2001. Family members included Comte, Beaufort, Abondance, French Gruyere and Swiss Gruyere. Made in the somewhat similar fashion typical of these mountains, the wheels are large (at least 15, and up to 90 pounds), cooked and pressed cow's raw milk cheeses.
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