Thursday Cheese Blogging!

Sap Sago (Schabziger)

Description:
Sap Sago cheese is a hard, fat free, pungent, grating cheese made only in the mountains of the Canton of Glarus, Switzerland. It comes in the form of a small foil-wrapped cone and has a different and distinctive flavor. It is excellent in a sauce for pasta or it can be grated on top of apple or cherry pies. The Swiss also use Sap Sago on top of a buttered piece of fresh bread. This cheese is for the more adventuresome. It keeps almost indefinitely at room temperature. And keep in mind that a little goes a long way.

Ingredients: Skimmed cows milk, salt, clover. Aged over 90 days.

Country:	Switzerland
Texture:	hard

Sapsago Cream

4 oz Sapsago
1/2 cup drained low-fat Quark or Ricotta
A pinch of salt, freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoon freshly snipped chives

Finely grate the Sapsago and mix with the Quark and seasonings until smooth. Stir in the mayonnaise, followed by the chives. This cream is ideal spread on dark rye bread, as well as used as a filling for little cream puffs.

History

The history of this canton is dominated by religion. The inhabitants of the Linth Valley were converted to Christianity in the 6th century by the Irish monk St. Fridolin. St. Fridolin still features in the coat of arms of the canton today. He founded the convent of Säckingen near Basel. From the 9th century, the area around Glarus was owned by the convent. By 1288 the Habsburgs bit by bit claimed all the rights of the convent. This resulted in the people of Glarus joining the Swiss Confederation in 1352.