Today we will get acquainted with the famous Italian cheese "Fontina". The photos represent it in the form of not very wide discs with a round stamp - the outlines of Mount Cervinha (also called Matterhorn) and the inscription Fontina.
And also on the original product should be abbreviated DOP, indicating that it is made in the Aosta Valleys. Well, what does this cheese taste like? What milk is it made of? What technology? What dishes of the fountain is used? And most importantly: what can replace this Italian cheese? We will talk about all this in our article.
History of the fountain
The shape of Mount Cervinha - the symbol of the Alps - on the cheese label tells us that milk was taken for him from cows grazed on the fat meadows of the slopes of Matterhorn. But where did the name “fountain” come from?
There are three versions to this. The first, the simplest, suggests that a cheese recipe was invented in the village of Fontinaz. The second version refers us to the archives of the Monastery of Gran San Bernardo. The documents of the XVII century mention the family of Funtin, who supplied cheese to the monastery.
And finally, the third version, which also has the right to exist: the inaccessible Aosta valleys in the Middle Ages served as a refuge for immigrants from Occitania (southern France), who fled here from the Inquisition.
Therefore, the term “fountain” has not Italian, but Languedoc roots. “Fondis” or “Fontis” - this is how cheese was defined which has the ability to melt when heated. Much later, the famous fondue dish came from this term.
The first mention of the Fontina cheese is not associated with documents or cookbooks, but with ... painting. In the castle of Castello di Issonia, the 12th-century frescoes depicting the famous heads ripening on the shelves are preserved.
And in 1477 this cheese is mentioned in the treatise Summa Lacticinorum of the doctor Pantaleone da Confienza. Since 1955, the product has been protected by origin control (DOP). It is produced only in the Valle d'Aosta region, and nowhere else in the world.
Can I make fountain cheese at home
The recipe for the production of the product came to us almost unchanged from the Middle Ages. In order to make a real fountain yourself, you need to be the happy owner of cows of the Valdostan Pezzata breed, and at the same time high alpine pastures on which they should graze in the summer and eat hay from there in the winter.
To create cheese, one milk is used, and it passes heating to 36 degrees no later than two hours later. Therefore, the cheese factory should be near the pasture.
Whole milk fat is cured by adding calf rennet. It takes place in steel or copper boilers for at least 40 minutes.
The resulting clot should be broken into pieces the size of corn kernels. Serum separation boilers are heated to 47 degrees, after which the precipitate is transferred to special containers for decantation.
Pressing lasts a day. After that, the head is immersed in saline for 12 hours. The fountain ripens not somewhere, but in caves carved in the rocks, where the air humidity is maintained at 90% and a temperature of +10 degrees year-round. For 80 days (this is the minimum period), the heads are turned, wiped, and added with a dry method.
Product gastronomic characteristics
As you can see, it is almost impossible to repeat the technological process for making Fontina cheese at home. Moreover, for one head requires about a hundred liters of milk.
How to find out the original product? These are cylinders 7-10 centimeters high with slightly concave sides and flat faces. The ideal weight of one head is from 7.5 to 12 kilograms.
The cheese crust should be compact, but thin, brown. The amount of fat in the fountain is 45 percent. Cheese has medium maturity. Therefore, his texture is elastic, soft.
On the cut, the cheese reveals many small eyes, the number of which increases towards the middle of the head. The color of the fountain depends on the exposure - from ivory to ripe straw.
The cheese flavor is very intense. The taste is characteristic, sweetish, with nutty notes. A mature fountain has a firmer texture. The taste of this kind is felt piquancy and more walnut, which is combined with herbal and fruity nuances.
How to serve
Fontina is quite worthy of staying on a cheese plate next to no less famous brothers from Italy and France. Dry red wine goes well under it. Merlot or Nebbiolo would be the perfect choice.
In order for the Italian Fontina cheese to reveal in all its glory, it is necessary to store it correctly. The cut piece should be wrapped with a damp linen towel and put in a vacuum container.
But you can use the refrigerator. We wrap the fontina with cling film and put it in the warmest place - on the door. Before serving, it is recommended to get the cheese ahead of time, for half an hour, so that it becomes room temperature.
How to replace the Fontina cheese
This product belongs to the DOP category. Because of this status, its price is affordable for not everyone. And the cost of a mature head is several times higher than young cheeses.
But there is a way. Fontina is produced in a similar way not only in other regions of Piedmont, but also in various provinces of Italy. And even Denmark, France and Sweden began to make cheese using this technology.
True, the pungent spicy taste in such products is less felt. The Northern Fontina is more tender, and its aroma is less pronounced.
By the way, in Italy itself, cheeses are used using synthetic rennet. This allows you to significantly reduce the cost of the product. True, such cheeses are called "Fontella", "Fontal" and "Fontinella", and they are much softer than their famous original.
What dishes is present
Fontina cheese is an integral part of the Valdostan culinary culture. In addition to solo, it is used for sandwiches - with fresh bread or croutons.
But the main quality, because of which culinary experts value fountain so much, is the extremely low melting point. Already at 60 degrees, the cheese begins to spread.
Therefore, it is actively used for pizza and hot sandwiches, on which the fountain forms an excellent ruddy hat.
Grated cheese is added to salads, meat, soups. Fontina is used for baking fish and vegetables. She will make unusually delicious risotto and polenta.
Fonduta alla Valdostana
Cheese "Fontina" is often compared with the Swiss "Gruyere", and it is no coincidence. Both of these fermented milk products have a low melting point, which is why they are an indispensable ingredient for fondue. In the valleys of Aosta, a famous dish is done like this.
- Fontina (about 200 grams) is cut into arbitrary pieces and sent to the fondue.
- Pour 125 milliliters of whole farm milk.
- Lightly mixed and sent for several hours in the refrigerator.
- The fondue is then heated in a water bath until a thick cream forms from cheese and milk.
- Add a slice of butter and two egg yolks.
- Put the pan on a special burner and start the meal.
Having strung a piece of bread or fruit on a knitting needle, dip it into the fondue and eat it.
Alpine polenta
This is another dish in which the main ingredient is fountain cheese. The recipe is very simple:
- From a liter of water and 250 grams of cornmeal, cook thick porridge.
- Add 150 g of butter to it and set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, three 300 grams of fountain, cut sausages, vegetables (tomatoes and bell peppers).
- Cut cold polenta into strips.
- Put in a baking sheet, alternating with layers of sausages, vegetables and, of course, cheese. Put in the oven to bake.
Serve hot to the table. Enjoy your meal!