A yellow, medium-hard cheese that is typically Swiss in style and often known simply as Swiss cheese. It has a fruity and savoury, but not very sharp, taste and a sweet aroma with tones of fresh-cut hay. It has a hard, thin rind, usually covered in paper bearing the producer's name. Most characteristically, it has walnut-sized holes.

Unpasteurised milk is heated to 32°C while being stirred continuously. Rennet and lactic acid are then added to the milk which is left to curd for 40 minutes. The curd is cut into pieces using a cheese harp. Stirring continues, and as the pieces become smaller, they produce whey. The mixture is heated to between 52°C and 54°C to remove even more of the whey. The cheese is pressed in moulds and then the cheese wheels are placed in a brine bath for 2 days, where they lose water, absorb salt and rind forms. They are then cellared to ferment before being left to mature for several months.

Three types of bacteria are used in the production of Emmental: Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus and Propionibacterium freudenreichii. In the late stage of cheese production, P. freudenreichii consumes the lactic acid excreted by the other bacteria and releases CO2 gas, which slowly forms the bubbles that make the holes.