The preparation of the Fontina
Cheese is
a receipt that has been transmitted in the centuries.
It is exclusively producted with whole, not pasteurized milk,
of bovines of Aosta Valley race, mostly nourished with green
fodder in the sommer and with the local hay during the rest of
the year. The milk is worked within two hours from the milking,
to preserve all its genuinity and smell.
To make it coagulate it is used the rennet of unweaned calf prepared
directly by the dairyman; in an hour the milk is curled, it is
prepared to make it homogeneous and warmed up till 47-48°C.
After taking it out of the furnace, the rennet is put in the
bandage and pressed to let the whey drip;
the paste obtained in this way
is than put in the moulds that will give to the Fontina
Cheese its
own characteristic shape.
After 12 hours the paste is removed from the moulds and it will appear in elastic
and soft shapes of a pale-straw colour.
The fresh cheese is taken to a cellar with more than 80% humidity and a temperature
from 8 to 11°C, far from heat, light sources and air currents. The shapes
are kept on red fir.
The assistance of man : it is necessary to take a constant and daily care to
create the Fontina
Cheese.
The shapes must be turned upside down everyday, alternating a day of salting
and a day of brushing.
The process of rubbing has the purpose to take away from the cheese-crust the
sheet of mould caused by the natural process of fermentation and to make the
crust humid.
The average period of seasonig is three months.
The caves used for the seasoning of the Fontina
Cheese are
digged in the rock in order to mantain the shapes in the ideal temperature and
humidity conditions and to let them mature naturally. |
