Soup
Bergsuppe aus Fribourg
Soupe de Chalet
Mountain Soup from Fribourg
A hearty soup for anyone who has worked up an appetite on a long hike: potatoes, greens, milk and pasta, poured over cubes of Gruyère.

Ingrédients
IngredientsTick off ingredients as you go.
Valeurs nutritives
Nutrition · per serving
| Energy | 2491 kJ / 597 kcal |
|---|---|
| Fat | 27 g |
| of which saturates | 16 g |
| Carbohydrate | 61 g |
| of which sugars | 12 g |
| Fibre | 6.5 g |
| Protein | 23 g |
| Salt | 0.68 g |
Counts a 200 g pack of Gruyère; nettle counted as spinach.
Estimate for the original amounts, per serving. Salt added to taste is not included. Calculated from the Swiss Food Composition Database (V7.1, FSVO).
Préparation
Directions- 1
Cut the potatoes into large cubes and chop the onions. Bring both to a boil in a saucepan with the salted water and the milk.
- 2
Chop the nettle and spinach and add them to the soup. Cook for about an hour, adding the pasta about 10 minutes before the end.
- 3
Stir in the cream. From now on the soup must not boil, only warm through.
- 4
Put the cheese cubes in the soup bowls, pour the hot soup over them and serve.
Astuce · Variation
Also tastes great with a piece of bacon cooked in the soup.
Bon appétit !
En Guete · Buon appetito · Bun appetit · Enjoy your meal
First published in the Arizona Swiss Society's Valley Echo newsletter, Summer–Fall 2023.
A bit of history
Histoire
Where Bergsuppe aus Fribourg comes from, gathered from reliable sources such as the Culinary Heritage of Switzerland inventory.
Soupe de chalet belongs to summer life on the alpine pastures of Fribourg's Gruyère region. The canton's inventory of living traditions says herders and armaillis made their daily meals from what the pasture produced: milk, whey, sérac and cream, often eaten as soup, and that the typical alpage meal today is soupe de chalet made with macaroni, milk, bacon and cheese. A recipe from Switzerland's regional parks network notes that the soup was cooked in alpine chalets when fresh vegetables were scarce. The newspaper 24 heures calls it the armaillis' meal of choice, and a must-have dish at good restaurants in the Gruyère region today.
Sources
- Saison d'alpage en Gruyère · État de Fribourg, Traditions vivantes
- Soupe de chalet · Réseau des parcs suisses
- La soupe de chalet met l'alpage à la bouche · 24 heures
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