What a cheese! How to make the perfect fondue

What makes the perfect fondue mix, which wine to drink with it and does curry go well with the cheese mix? These tips and tricks will help you make the perfect fondue.

Summer dresses are being replaced by sweaters, the leaves are losing their colors and the watermelon and feta salad is being replaced by a caquelon with cheese: it's fondue season again.

And like every year, the question arises: how do you make the perfect fondue and what do you need to consider afterwards? These tips and tricks can help you:

There is a wide range of different fondue products available in supermarkets and dairies: From ready-made to cheese blends to real cheese, where you make the whole mixture yourself. They all have advantages and disadvantages.

The ready mix: Here, cheese, wine and spices are already mixed and in a packet. You don't really have control over the contents, but it is very quick to prepare.

The cheese mix: Here, the cheese combination is already predetermined. You can play around with the wine and spices.

Made entirely by hand: It's worth gaining some experience here, as most things can go wrong. However, you have the most control over the cheese, spice and wine. However, you will have to make the cheese grating yourself. Grated cheese melts faster and can therefore combine better with the wine.

Moité-Moité, the classic fondue, consists of half Vacherin Fribourgeois AOP and half Gruyère AOP. The two spicy, piquant cheeses form a good base. For a strong, aromatic taste, a little Emmental cheese can be added to the mixture.

If you want something even spicier, we recommend Appenzeller. Tilsiter and Sbrinz are also popular in some regions.

For a completely new experience, you could experiment with a spicy and slightly sweet-tasting blue cheese, Gorgonzola or a spicy and nutty Camembert.

You should also use a young cheese for fondue. This has a different melting property than mature cheese. It is best to use cheese that has been matured for no longer than six months or has less than 45 percent fat.

Traditionally, fondue is seasoned with garlic, pepper and nutmeg. To spice up your fondue, you could also add onions, caraway seeds, paprika, green pepper, herbs or even curry. A dash of kirsch is also recommended. But the general rule here is: less is more, as the cheese is already spicy.

Cheese fondue is usually made for four people. That's 800 grams of cheese, four deciliters of white wine and a tablespoon of cornstarch or other cornflour. For a non-alcoholic version, the wine can be replaced with apple juice.

It is best to use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture so as not to damage the caquelon. It is important to stir the mixture in the whole pot and not just in a circle, as you risk a solid lump in the middle. To ensure that everything is stirred evenly, you can use the wooden spoon movement of a figure of eight as an additional aid.

With fondue, it is important not only to stir thoroughly, but also constantly. Even during the meal, you should keep stirring a little as you dip your fork in. Otherwise the cheese will quickly crust over and the mixture will solidify.

Traditionally, bread is used for a fondue. White bread, caraway bread, smoked bread, nut bread, St. Gallen bread, Ticino bread or lye bread are particularly suitable.

It is also recommended to leave the bread to stand for a day beforehand. Fresh bread is more difficult to digest in combination with cheese.

As an alternative to bread, potatoes also taste excellent with cheese. Or vegetables or fruit such as apples or pears.

The wine is of course very important. Choose a dry Swiss wine, preferably from Valais. It should not be too sweet or too fruity. The fondue needs acidity and dryness.

A digestive schnapps is often drunk after a heavy meal such as fondue. This is supposed to help digest the cheese. But this is not quite true. Alcohol makes the stomach sluggish and therefore digestion is much slower.

What can actually help our stomach or digestion is a walk.

A small and simple solution to the smell of cheese: light a match. This releases a sulphur scent. Although this emergency tip covers up the last few hours of fondue, it unfortunately does not undo the smell.