Aosta · Italy

Fontina

A cheese is a means of preserving a summer. Fontina is produced from the raw milk of a single breed of cow, the Valdostana, and from a single milking, worked within a couple of hours so that it has no time to alter. In summer the animals climb to the high pastures and feed on mountain grass, and that milk yields a different wheel from the winter one. The wheels then mature for months in cool, damp conditions: some of the cellars are disused mine tunnels, where the temperature never varies. All of it exists because an alpine valley had to make what it produced in August last until March. The taste is the consequence of the problem.

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Why a single milking?

Because raw milk changes quickly, and mixing milkings means mixing fermentations. Using one milking straight away means starting from the same material every time. It is a rule that came out of practice long before it was written down.

Does the season make a difference?

A great deal. The wheels made in summer up at the high pastures have a stronger taste and a deeper colour, because of the fresh grass and the flowers. The cheesemongers here will tell you which is which before you ask.

How is it eaten here?

Melted, most of the time. The local fonduta is made with milk and egg yolks and eaten with bread; seupa is a baked soup of bread, cabbage and fontina. They are dishes invented to warm up people who had been working outdoors all day.

Where it is

Piazza Narbonne, 11100 Aosta · 45.73718, 7.32186 · Open in Maps

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