Fontina
The fontina cheese is produced
exclusively in Valle d'Aosta, here, due to the barrier of the Alps,
the summer climate is dry: this permits the proliferation of a rich
mountain flora composed of highly valued botanical essences. The
aroma, the taste, the protein and vitamin contents: the best
characteristics of the grasses and flowers of the mountain enter
into the food of the cows, into their milk and, consequently, into
the Fontina cheese. The purity of the forage and the distance from
the agricultural zones signifies an absolute absence of pesticides
and anti-parasites: a natural environment for a genuine cheese.
Fontina is prepared with a milk rich in vitamins, natural aromas,
without anything being added or taken away: in fact the milk is
neither skimmed or pasturized, so the biological and organoleptic
components remain intact. The climate and the countryside of the
Valle d'Aosta provides ideal conditions to produce this cheese, the
only one in the world. Tradition does the rest.
The history of Fontina is the history
of the Valle d'Aosta. The first notes date back to 1200: whereas while there
were some who were constructing impregnable castles, someone was paying
attention to making life more flavorsome, and so produced the ancestor to
the Fontina.... Already cheeses were mentioned in the feudal archives of
1267, and in the Summa Lacticinorum, written in 1477, it is said about Valle
d'Aosta: "Here the cheeses are good and the pastures excellent. There are
made to medium size, and become stringy when put on the fire or when placed
into food". A description of which there gives off already the perfume of
the, by now, famous fondue.
In the castles of the Valle d'Aosta, there are frescoes in which between
dames, cavaliers and warriors there may be seen a medieval bench of cheese
sellers on which is recognizable the typical form of Fontina.
The preparation of the Fontina is a recipe which as been handed down through the centuries. It is produced exclusively with full cream milk, not pasturized, from the cow of the breed Valle d'Aosta, feed mainly with green forage in the summer period and with local hay throughout the rest of the year.
The milk is worked within two hours of the milking, to preserve all of its
wholesomeness and its perfume. To make it coagulate there is used the rennet
of milking calves being prepared directly by the dairyman; within the hour
the milk is condensed, worked again to make it homogeneous, and heated to
47-48°C. After the extraction from the cauldron, the curds are immersed in a
net and pressed to let drip through slowly the whey, the mixture left is
then placed into the moulds which give the cheese its unmistakable form.
After 12 hours, the mixture is then taken out of the moulds. Its form is
straw white in color, elastic and soft. The maturing takes place in
grottoes cut from the rocks, where the temperature is maintained at 5-10°C,
with a level of humidity of at least 90%, to make it mature naturally these
precious forms are preserved on pine shelves.
The intervention by man is daily: it
needs constant care to make Fontina. The forms are turned over every day,
alternating one day for salting and one for brushing. The scrubbing serves
to take away from the crust the layer of mould due to the natural
fermentation and to make the crust humid. The approximate period for
maturing is 3 months.
The Cooperative Producers of Milk and Fontina began in 1957, to teach the
producers (in most cases owners of small farms) as well as the consumers,
and so was able to offer a guaranteed and secure product, protected from the
numerous imitations.
The Cooperative occupies itself with
the collecting, maturing and commercialization of the Fontina cheeses. Today
there are about 400 producers of Fontina, between individual farms, cheese
factory cooperatives and dairy factories: producing about 3.500 tons, equal
to 400.000 forms of Fontina every year, guaranteed by the mark stamped by
the Consorzio Produttori Fontina on every form, the "seal of quality". This
mark requires numerous and very severe tests. With the knowledgeable way of
tapping on the surface of the form, they know the consistency. The operation
of coring consists of extracting a "wedge" of cheese to verify the look and
the softness. The piece of cheese is folded between the fingers: if they
bend, and the two extremities touch without breaking, then it is worthy to
have the mark "fontina".
Recommended wines:
Friuli Merlot; German Riesling; Dolcetto; Red & White Rhones; Urquell Pilsner.
© 1997-2010 Enrico Massetti
TangoItalia - Food, Wine, Travel, and... tango in Italy.