Fontina Cheese Making Recipe

[DeejayDebi]

Webmasters Edit - Split this and following posts off of an Introduction Board Thread as useful info for others and as buried in that board and hard to find for others.

Fontina - Adapted from recipe by Danlac
A classic Italian raw milk cheese. Depending on  how long it has been aged, fontina can be semisoft to firm in texture, with a range of flavors from mild and creamy to more intense and pungent.

Ingredients:
Raw Milk
Choozit TM 81
Probat 222
rennet
Brevibacteerium linens
Salt

Procedure:
Heat milk to 162 - 167°F
Cool to 86 - 90°F
Add probat 222 mix well
add Chooseit TM81 mix well
Preripen for 30 to 40 minutes untl the pH 6.5
Add rennet
When a clean break is achieved cut curds into pea pieces
Stir for 25 minutes
Draw off between 1/3 and 1/4 of the whey
ph should be 6.35 - 6.40 before adding 140°F water to achieve a final temperature of 99 to 102°F.
Stir for 30 minutes.
Press curds under whey for 10 minutes.
Press curds with 4 pounds pressure for 15 minutes
Press curds with 8 pounds pressure for 15 minutes
pH before brine bath should be 5.2 to 5.4
Brine in 15% brine at 61 to 64°F for  hours
pH after brine should be 5.15 to 5.25
Let cheese dry and begin to smear twice on the 1st and 3rd day
Treat with salt bath after the 5th day - every 3rd day.
At  the end of the first month the cheese should have a dry smear and can be packed.
Ripen for two months.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Press curds with 4 pounds pressure for 15 minutes
Press curds with 8 pounds pressure for 15 minutes

You only press for a total of 30 minutes??? Both my recipes call for medium pressure (10 psi) for 8 to 12 hours. Neither one uses B. linens or any smear coat.

Fontina is a "washed curd" cheese - replacing whey with hot water to cook the curds, reduce lactose, and ultimately reduce acidity. There are at least a couple of recipes on the forum that are simply wrong because they don't wash the curds. They might make great cheese, but they won't be Fontina.

[DeejayDebi]

That's what the recipe says. I am trying to locate the original copy.

[Sailor Con Queso]

I recently got a book from our University library - "A Colour Guide To Cheese & Fermented Milks" (1995 by R.K. Robinson). This is really a sleeper book loaded with info on tons of cheeses. Unlike most descriptive cheese books, this one has enough info to actually make the cheese.

Anyway, he says that Fontina is an AOS designated cheese. No added cultures are allowed. The AOS standard calls for natural flora (meso and thermo) only. Traditionally it has been aged in high humidity conditions that favor the natural development of B. linens. The AOS standard calls for a 37-40% moisture content. This is on par with a Gouda, so I would press with a medium weight accordingly.

[DeejayDebi]

Most european hard cheeses don't allow cultures but we don't have the natural vegetative cultures they have there so we use packaged cultures.

I don't see any evidence of b. linens on the chunk I brought home with me from Wisconsin but how knows? I have never eatten this cheese before but it looks good. I wanted to try this recipe (eventually I have so many yet to try) so I ougt some to see what it's supposed to taste like.

I find the Italian Cheese book has enough info to actually make most of the cheeses as well.

[Sailor Con Queso]

How can a Wisconsin company call this a Fontina if it is an AOS designated cheese? I thought the point was to prevent "outsiders" from using the name.

I put a Fontina into my cave a couple of nights ago.

[DeejayDebi]

Maybe because it doesn't say AOP on it? Some companies have gone overseas to learn to make these cheeses - I suspect it's like selling anything else it's a US version.

Ah I would like to see your Fontina. I found a registration certificate on it when I was searching for your cheese recipe and it sounded good so I found a few recipes and matched them to descriptions.

[Sailor Con Queso]

So I can legally call my blue a Stilton as long as I don't label it as AOS?

[DeejayDebi]

I'm sure there's a way but I don't know it. I know you can't call it AOP, DOP or whatever that is the seal of quality and says it's the real thing.

[TONY]

Thanks Rudy

[Sailor Con Queso]

I would not trust this recipe. Note that she lists Brevibacteerium linens in the ingredient list, but never actually uses it in the recipe.