By infopadweb 3 April 2024
FONTINA DOP
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DESCRIPTION, HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DOP
Fontina DOP, a protected and typical cheese from the Aosta Valley, is characterized by a fresh milk aroma, sweet flavor, and soft and elastic texture. It comes exclusively from this region, resulting from a specific combination of factors: the use of whole, raw milk from local cattle breeds (Valdostana Pezzata Rossa, Valdostana Pezzata Nera, Castana) and processed quickly. These cows feed on alpine grass in summer and hay in winter, giving the cheese unique quality and flavors.
The name “Fontina” has ancient and debated origins, linked to both places and characteristics of the product. Its first historical mention dates back to the 15th century, although the official classification and the designation of origin were established much later, specifically in 1955.
Fontina DOP is distinguished by its ivory or straw-yellow appearance, soft texture, sparse eyes, and a flavor that ranges from delicate and buttery in young forms to fruitier and nuttier notes in aged varieties.
In the 1960s, despite technical and commercial innovations in the Italian dairy industry, the production of Fontina DOP maintained its typicality and quality thanks to the efforts of the producers and the control of the Fontina DOP Producers and Protection Consortium, which oversees its production and commercialization, ensuring the authenticity and tradition of this unique cheese.
Consortium
the consortium for the protection of DOP Fontina cheese
The Fontina Producers Consortium, established in 1952, is tasked with overseeing the production and trade of Fontina cheese, ensuring its quality and authenticity through marking. The Consortium’s brand, introduced since its foundation, protects consumers from imitations, with a progressive increase in the number of marked forms from the 1950s to today. The date of July 14, 1993, is significant, when the Consortium requested the recognition of DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) for Fontina from the European Union, which was officially obtained in 1996.
Since April 26, 2002, the Ministry of Agricultural and Forestry Policies officially recognizes the Consortium for the protection of Fontina DOP, entrusting it with tasks of protection, promotion, and valorization of the cheese, in addition to fighting against counterfeiting. This mandate is regularly renewed, highlighting the ongoing commitment to the quality and authenticity of the cheese.
Fontina DOP must follow a precise Production Specification that establishes the characteristics of the cheese and the entire production cycle, from raw material to aging. The specification ensures that each form of Fontina DOP meets strict requirements before being marked by the Consortium, thus guaranteeing the uniqueness and authenticity of the product in the Alpine cheese panorama.
Recipe
COMPOSED SALAD WITH FONTINA DOP CHEESE, ELDERBERRY JELLY AND SEED CRACKERS
| 4 people Preparation: 20′ Cooking: 30′ + rest |
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Ingredients:
– 300 g aged Fontina DOP
– one small head of curly lettuce
– one head of Verona radicchio
– 100 g Jerusalem artichokes
– 1 lemon
– 2 dl elderberry syrup
– 1 dl white wine
– 2 g agar agar powder
– 120 g 00 flour
– 60 g of remilled durum wheat semolina
– 30 g of toasted sesame seeds
– 25 g of toasted pumpkin seeds
– 25 g of flax seeds
– a tablespoon of acacia honey
– half a pink grapefruit
– extra virgin olive oil
– salt
Pour the elderberry syrup into a small saucepan with the white wine, bring to a boil, add the agar agar stirring with a small whisk, cook for 3 minutes and pour into a small baking dish. Let cool and transfer to refrigerator for 2 hours. Mix the two types of flour with a pinch of salt, the honey, 2 tablespoons of oil, 1 dl of water and the seeds and let the dough rest covered for 30 minutes. Roll it out on a sheet of baking paper into a sheet about 2 millimeters thick, brush it with a little water and cut it into rectangles. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes, turn off the oven and leave the crackers in the oven off for 15 minutes. Arrange the hulled, washed, and chopped salad greens, the diced elderberry jelly, the peeled Jerusalem artichokes, cut into very thin slices and doused with lemon juice, the crackers in chunks, and the Fontina AOC stripped of its rind and cut into sticks on the plates. Season with pink grapefruit juice emulsified with a pinch of salt and 4 tablespoons of oil and accompany with the remaining crackers.
Regions
FONTINA DOP
| Aosta Valley |  |
