Swiss cheese is a generic name in North America for several related varieties of
cheese, mainly of North American manufacture, which resemble
Emmental cheese, a yellow,
medium-hard cheese that originated in the area around
Emmental, in Switzerland. Some types of Swiss cheese have a distinctive appearance, as the blocks of the cheese are riddled with holes known as "
eyes". Swiss cheese without eyes is known as "blind". (The term is applied to cheeses of this style made outside Switzerland, such as
Jarlsberg cheese, which originates in
Norway).