Fontina D.O.P.: the queen of Valle d'Aosta cheeses

La Fontina D.O.P. is the undisputed queen of Valle d'Aosta cheeses, often erroneously called Val d'Aosta. Due to its history, characteristics and tradition, it is made in the only territory authorised to produce it and was born from the milk of cattle natives obtained at high altitude.

His centuries-old tradition is inspired by a painting by 15th century which depicts it on a shop counter: the shapes depicted are very similar to those of the typical cheese of the Aosta Valley today. On the other hand, the term has even more definition, since Fontina appears in Latin documents to indicate a plot of land linked to a village.

Favoured by the microclimate of the Valley d’Aosta, Fontina production owes many of its unique characteristics to the pastures enriched with a perfect mix of mazzolina grass, red fescue, sesleria and, again, brachypodium, helicanthemum, curved sedge and clover, which make it a real delicacy on the world gastronomic scene.

Fontina has the sceptre, but production in the Aosta Valley remains varied and also with mixed milk

Having established who holds the sceptre among the regional cheeses of the Aosta Valley, what are the main cheeses typically produced in the region? Some matured, some fresh, some deriving from sub-processing of Fontina and often produced by mixing cow's milk with goat's and sheep's milk, the range of production is rather wide. let's see which are the main ones:

Fromadzo, the ordinary PDO cheese from the Valley with an ancient history

Valle d'Aosta Fromadzo D.O.P., or rather the Vallèe d'Aoste Fromadzo, cheese, according to specifications, is a cheese that can be presented as low-fat or semi-fat and of medium-long maturation, completing the cheese-making culture of the Aosta Valley that has in Fontina D.O.P. its main product. In contrast to it, however, it has the characteristic of being leaner and coming from cow's milk, which can, however, be topped up with a small percentage of goat's milk. It matures for two months and can be matured for up to ten, and can also have typical mountain herbs added.

One of its main definitions: “fromage maigre et fromage commun”lean and common, dates back to the early 1900s. To the eye, it has a hard, rough rind, a straw-yellowish colour tending to grey and taking on reddish hues as it matures. Its paste is compact and the holes are uniform and can become crumbly. 

From the tradition of making a cheese from available milk: the Misto

Mixed cheese, classified as traditional food product, stems from the need to produce cheese with the available milk in the Aosta Valley tradition. When the families that produced cheese in Valle d'Aosta possessed a few cows, sheep and goats, all that was left to do was to mix the milk, processing it even then as we do today to make this cheese. But with what percentages? The answer is almost taken for granted: also variable, i.e. depending on how much milk was available. There was, however, one certainty that is still confirmed today, namely that  the prevalence of milk is cow's milk. The washed rind is quite hard, sometimes moist, and straw or reddish in colour. The pasta is rather hard and compact, white or light straw colour. Sparse eyeing and distributed on a regular basis.

La Brossa: one of the Valdostan accompaniments to polenta

Among the dairy products of the Aosta Valley, one cannot help but try Brossa with a warm slice of polenta. Brossa is a cheese product derived from the residual whey from cheese processing with the addition of vinegar and citric acid produced in small quantities, which enhances the history of the people of the valley who fed themselves with simple but nutrient-rich resources. Like the Brossa precisely.

And in ancient times, this product was never missing from the diet of the families that produced the queen of Aosta Valley cheeses, because in fact it is made from from the residual whey of Fontina cheese processing. The whey is heated to a temperature of 85° and then acidified with vinegar and citric acid. The fat and proteins rise to the surface and are collected. The purée has a soft, unctuous, creamy, white consistency and is eaten with polenta, while the resulting butter is perfect spread on bread.

Reblec, the traditional country soft cheese

Reblec was originally the cheese of the peasant families, whose name derives from the French word rebliets. It owes its origin to the practice whereby farmers used to milk cows after milking them for the farm owner. The purpose was to obtain a small amount of milk to be able to support their family.
It is therefore an important product, whose name derives from a story about the poverty of the farmers of the past.
It is a soft, creamy cheese with no eyes. It is a fresh product, to be eaten as soon as it has cooled and also goes well with white wines.

Traditional ricottas, from fresh to salted and seasoned

As in all the dairy traditions of the Italian regions, ricotta has its place in that of the Valle d'Aosta. Due to its freshness characteristics, ricotta represents a complete, lean, very digestible food. In Italy it is produced in practically every dairy, which, exploiting the properties of whey, collects and recovers the serum protein left over after processing the cheese. 

In addition to its fresh form, ricotta can also be salted, with a production method that enables storage and seasoning the precious semi-hard dairy product, widely used in cooking. Historically, in the alpine pastures it was preserved by smoking it in the chimneys of the casere, when the fire was used to  wood for heating boilers.

The Aosta Valley also has its own typical ricottas, including the Salignoùn, ricotta, a fresh and often smoked ricotta, just like the Walser tradition from which it derives. It is a processed ricotta cheese that goes well with simple foods such as potatoes. It is part of the low-fat cheeses, even if the serum is adding a small amount of milk or cream. 

Last but not least, another typical Aosta Valley ricotta is the Seras, which has a history linked to the mountain pastures: when ricotta cheese had to be transported from the high mountains to the valley, it was dried and ripened. Transport took place on hay wagons, in a protected place, but at the same time allowing it to take on very special aromas that still distinguish it today among the cheeses of the Aosta Valley.