{"id":32447,"date":"2017-12-05T15:00:56","date_gmt":"2017-12-05T20:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=32447"},"modified":"2017-12-11T15:55:29","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T20:55:29","slug":"cheese-supersedes-arms-transformed-alpine-military-cave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/cheese-supersedes-arms-transformed-alpine-military-cave\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheese Supersedes Arms In A Transformed Alpine Military Cave"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photographed by Tom Trachsel <\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

I<\/span>t would be easy to miss the door. Wedged into a verdant valley in the shadows of craggy, glacier-studded Bl\u00fcemlisalp mountain, the entrance is shielded by spruce trees at the shore of a trickling river\u2014the last place you\u2019d expect to find a secret cave filled with weapons and ammo. But here it is, a military fort burrowed 650 feet into a rocky precipice. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the only one. Switzerland\u2019s peaks have long represented respite and refuge, providing shelter safe from conquerors and invaders. Yet as the Cold War drew to a close, many of the neutral country\u2019s caves sat unused. By the mid-1990s, most had been decommissioned and abandoned. These caves are of special interest to companies like Gourmino, which need space to age thousands of giant Alpine cheeses<\/a> such as Emmentaler and Gruy\u00e8re in a humid-yet-cool environment. <\/span><\/p>\n

Gourmino<\/a> managing director Roland Sahli had wanted a bigger affinage facility for years, but building one from scratch would have been too expensive. As for the mountain forts, \u201cthe military spent a lot of money making every detail perfect,\u201d says marketing director Karina Jeker. The logical solution? Buying a defunct fort and filling it with cheese. <\/span><\/p>\n

After two years of planning, the team began a year of construction. From clearing out old hand grenades to blasting a new tunnel connecting the cave\u2019s separate chambers to hiring a village carpenter to craft 30,000 spruce aging planks, the transformation\u2014recorded in these photos\u2014 was enormous. The once-dusty chambers now glisten, their hue transforming from grey to gold as wheels move in, embodying a country\u2019s evolving history in a secret cave. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"gourmino\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It took Gourmino two years to develop the plans for the facility. Inside, 300-feet-long bomb-proof corridors lead to the cheese cellars. The cellar walls are surrounded by a 15-inch barrier, a hollow space, and a 30-inch concrete shell\u2014this construction protects the bunker from water damage while still allowing for high humidity.<\/p>\n

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\nShelving was installed in each aging cave. The wood boards were then added, and ready for the first wheels of Emmentaler<\/a> and Gruy\u00e8re<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t