Fontina PDO cheese: how one of Italy’s culinary masterpieces is made

Fontina PDO cheese owes its origins, first and foremost, to a series of production measures important, but even more so from the production of milk that comes exclusively from Valdostana cattle – Red, Black and Chestnut Spotted – born and reared on farms in the Aosta Valley.

Its production regulations stipulate that animals on these pastures may feed exclusively on hay, cereals and wild grasses. And It takes about 100 litres of milk to make one wheel.

During production, Fontina PDO cheese is a pale straw-yellow colour in the wheels produced in winter, when the cows are fed on hay, and tends towards a more intense yellow in the summer production, due to the presence of carotene.

Compared with other similar types of cheese, which often try unsuccessfully to imitate it, Fontina is rmade from fresh milk made from a single milking, rather than two successive ones. Calf rennet and indigenous lactic acid bacteria are then added to the freshly milked milk; once the curd has set, it is wrapped in a cotton cloth and placed in special moulds, each of which is marked with the product’s serial number.

The secret to its unique flavour? Alpine flowers from the Aosta Valley and perfect maturation

Fontina PDO cheese wheels are dry-cured and then leave them to mature for at least 3 months, turning them every day, alternating between a day of salting and a day of brushing. But this takes place at the end of a process that is both simple and complex which originates in the Aosta Valley. 

And the reference to his home region is no coincidence, given that right in the heart of the Alps, on the border between France, Italy and Switzerland, lie the ideal local conditions for the production of Fontina PDO cheese which, over time, has earned itself a reputation for Italian gastronomic excellence. In a continental climate – that is, hot in summer and characterised by significant temperature variations between the seasons – a third of the region’s area is covered by meadows and pastures d’alpine pasture, which extend up to altitudes of 3,000 metres.

Hundreds of varieties of plants grow on these meadows, including the’oats, the purple clover and the white clover, the’alfalfa: these are varieties that contribute to the character of the milk that is later turned into cheese, although it is mainly the white flowers of chervil wild, the daisy, the flowers of dandelion and the yellow of the buttercups to give it the flavour and characteristic golden colour typical of Fontina. 

The Aosta Valley thus provides the perfect setting for the production of Fontina. However, the production process itself remains crucial.

Let’s see how this is achieved culinary delicacy once the cows of the Aosta Valley have produced milk rich in valuable nutrients. 

A product of excellence from the Aosta Valley: how Fontina PDO is made

Fontina is produced in accordance with the provisions of the PDO production specification. This is how the specifications are adhered to of freshly milked milk, which is carried over unchanged into the cheese. 

The milk is always processed into cheese within a few hours of milking, which takes place twice a day. It is initially cold-worked, at a temperature of 36 °C, using calf rennet for coagulation. Once the curd has broken, it is gradually heated to around 48 °C to aid the draining of the curds. The mass is kept stirring and the draining process is completed. 

The curd, once obtained in this way, is left to rest for about ten minutes, until the cheese mass is shaped: it is then placed in the traditional moulds, characterised by a convex base, onto which a casein (milk protein) label bearing the product’s serial number is applied. The wheels are then placed under pressure in a press to complete the removal of any residual whey. This juicing processIt lasts for around 12 hours, during which time the cheese wheels are turned several times. Before the final turning, the producer’s identification number (CTF) is stamped onto the cheese wheel; this, together with the casein tag, ensures the product’s full traceability. 

After the salting and maturing, which, as we have seen, lasts three months, and during which the wheels are turned periodically, alternating between salting and brushing; the wheels are examined, one by one, by the PDO Protection Consortium and only those wheels that meet the quality standards set out in the production specifications are marked with the distinctive PDO label: this is how Fontina PDO cheese has managed to to win over the palates of the most discerning gourmets, becoming a benchmark for Italian culinary excellence, even abroad.