A friend and I hopped on the train for a Swiss adventure in the canton of Jura, about two hours northwest from Zürich, to track down the region’s famous Toétché (also known as Gâteau à la Crème Jurassien) and Gâteau du Cloître (tête de moine cheese tart with chives).   Sitting overlooking the Doubs River in the medieval town of St. Ursanne, gazing quizzically at the bridge beside us (that happened to be the inspiration for the illustrator of the Lord of the Rings book), eating trout from the water below us, we paged through brochures and maps to determine our afternoon (foodie) destination.

“I got it !”  A farm specializing in ice cream… with 450 flavors ?!  I dropped my fork and called them immediately.  On a Monday afternoon in July, they weren’t exactly in high production mode – or at all.  Nor were there crowds of people requesting a visit – or any at all.  Blaise Barth couldn’t possibly understand why I wanted to come, “It’s just a farm. It’s not very interesting.” Fast forward to 5 hours later when he was driving us back into town after a laughter-filled afternoon spent together, and me assuring him… “See, told ya it was super interesting !”

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It’s still summer (despite the weather some days), and the markets have been overflowing with berries of all kinds, nectarines and peaches, fragrant melons and sweet cherries. The first plums have already grabbed my attention, the small greengage variety from France, called Reine Claude are fabulous. I never seem to buy enough at the market. Nor can I ever get too many punnets of raspberries, my favorite fruit. I may have come close though when I brought home a kilo of them (as well as a kilo each of blackberries and blueberries), each and every one picked from their stems by Olivier and myself.

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One thing I love about Zürich is the omnipresence of both the Swiss and Zürich canton flags.  Hanging from buildings and homes in the old town and all across the city, along the lake and river, perched proudly on cars and trams, patches sewn into locals’ clothing, bags and other accessories.  So you can just imagine my delight during the Swiss holidays when these flags show up in even more guises.   They blow in the wind on top of churches, and food products are cooked or baked into the shape of the Swiss cross or in the colors of red and white.  Yesterday, August 1st, was the national holiday here, commemorating the Helvetic Confederation’s 718th birthday.

430 farms across the country opened to the public for the holiday with a “Brunch on the Farm.” You reserve a spot, pay around CHF 20 and can enjoy the setting, food, music and any other festivities. We chose a farm with traditional production methods (and animals for my 4 year old nephew to pet!) in the canton of St. Gallen, towards the Austrian border.  It was a beautiful drive from Zürich (about an hour), with a truly representative landscape of Switzerland – rolling green hills, so smooth and clean, cows grazing upon them, their bells swaying as they moved about, fields of sunflowers and the entire landscape dotted with the red and white of the Swiss flag.  My favorites were the signs off the sides of the road, letting us know we could stop at any time to pick up fresh berries, plums, sunflowers or eggs.  Using a system that perhaps might not work as well in the United States – you take what you want and leave money for it.  Stands unattended, prices marked, functioning on the honor code.  What do you think of that?!

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