serac

noun

1. Often sérac: a hard, cone-shaped, pale green, strongly flavoured cheese from Switzerland made from skimmed cow milk and blue fenugreek (Trigonella caerulea); Schabziger, Sapsago. It is usually eaten grated, mixed with butter, or in a fondue.

   “The smoke found its way out of the holes in the roof as it liked best; and nearly over the fire was a black smoky shelf, supporting several masses of that inferior white cheese, called Serac.”

   “Here and elsewhere the sérac, which is something between curd and cheese, may be advantageously taken instead of butter, which is almost always bad.”

   “Note the Alpine cheese dairy on the Iseltenalp, where fresh dairy produce are made every day (milk, butter, cheese and serac).”

2. A sharp tower of ice formed by intersecting crevasses of a glacier.

   “Perhaps the finest part of it [the Lysjoch] is the grand sérac scenery of the Zwillinge Glacier. In August, 1876, a party of four, having missed the right track in crossing this pass when the snow was in very bad condition, were carried down in an avalanche of loose snow probably started by their own weight.”

   “Numerous blocks of ice, to which the name "serac" is given, covered the plain. These are large fragments of frozen snow, almost rectangular. They take their name from the resemblance they bear to a compact cheese called "serac," which is made from skimmed milk, and pressed into rectangular cans.”

   “As you mount the Aletschhorn from the sleeping place, towards the lowest col from which you first overlook the Lotsch Glacier there descends, from a higher plateau, and on your right hand, a large mass of sérac.”

   “The Boltoro Glacier […] The surface of the glacier is rough and uneven, broken by crevasses and covered by seracs and rock debris.”