“ Thank you so much for having Charlie come to stay,” said Jane as she bundled her son into our car for a half-term visit. “He eats most things but isn’t keen on butter in sandwiches and I can never get him to drink milk.”

That’s alright, I thought to myself. This is Charlie’s first trip to the Saanenland. He doesn’t know how good milk can taste. Yet.

Creamy Gold Top
I wouldn’t claim to be an expert on milk in any kind of official manner, but I have drunk lots of it in many places around the world.

Growing up in the UK I recall the whirr of the milk cart and chink of glass as the milkman put bottles of ‘silver top’ outside our front door. Socalled because they were sealed with a little silver disc to signify whole milk. That was what most people bought.

Except our neighbours in the house up the hill. I remember gazing in silent curiosity at the ‘gold top’ bottles lined up in their porch. Because those little coloured discs signified the most expensive milk. The absolute premium product with the prized layer of cream on top. I used to think our neighbours must be very rich.

But I doubt even the famed gold top would be a match for the Saanenland milk, which is quite simply the best I have tasted. Anywhere. Ever.

Food Provenance
There’s a lot of talk these days about the importance of food provenance. About the detrimental impact of shipping in products from miles away when there are equivalent or better versions available on your own doorstep.

And when it comes to dairy in the Saanenland the local offerings are second to none. We don’t have any mega-farms or excessive transportation. It’s farming right here in the region, in the fields and hills that line the valley - local food production in action. And if you time it right, you can still see the farmers drive their grey milk churns to the local dairies for processing. There is something so marvellous about actually seeing milk you’ll soon be drinking arriving from farms literally up the road.

So, if you haven’t tried the Saanenland milk yet, I want you to go out right now and buy a carton of it. Most (all?) grocery shops locally sell it, even the Coop and Migros chains in the region stock it. Price-wise it’s on a par with other milk products, but the taste-for-price ratio is off the charts. And the icing on the cake is you’ll be supporting the local economy and the environment which is no bad thing either.

ANNA CHARLES