Brig Cheese
Brig Cheese is a Mikitivity cheese that is the key ingredient in making Thuvian Fondue. It is named after Brig, a small village located in an isolated valley in the Thuvian mountains in the canton of Miervatia.
Due to the popularity of Thuvian Fondue, the denomination Brig Cheese is not protected, thus it is common to find similar cheeses being made outside of Mikitivity. In fact, it is said that some of the higher quality Brig Cheeses actually can be found to the west of Mikitivity in the Schnauzer Domains, which share a similar climate but has more land suitable for cattle grazing.
Brig Cheese is a pale-yellow, medium hard cheese with characteristic large holes. It is made from nonpasturized cow's milk and typically aged for 3 to 12 months.
The holes are affectionately refered to as mausknabbern, as it was tradition to fault the holes on nibbles that tiny mice would eat out of the cheese. The holes are actually created in the last stage of production, when one of the bacteria used in making the cheese consumes the lactic acid excreted by the other types of bacteria and releases carbon dioxide gas, which slowly forms bubbles within the cheese.
The cheese has a mild taste and when fresh is popular in making sandwiches. Though the cheese ages well in cold climates, stale Brig Cheese is seasoned with spice melange and local white wines, and then melted in a kasetopf to make Thuvian Fondue. The demand for Brig Cheese in the fondue is so high, that today it is common for the fresh cheese to be stored in barns waiting for it to age enough for traditional fondue, and thus other cheeses are more and more frequently being used to make sandwiches or other dishes.
