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There are around 200
high pastures concerned with making Fontina.
These are small dairy-farming establishments situated at altitudes
between 1800 – 2300 metres a.s.l. where the cows are fed thanks
to the nearby pastures, with their wealth of fragrant fodder which
give the milk a vast range of characteristic aromas.
In the high pastures life goes on slowly, cadenced by the natural
rhythms of the animals. You wake up at 3 am, then do the milking
which generally finishes at around 7 o’clock. While the animals
are taken to the pastures the cheese maker begins to transform
the milk into the future Fontina and, depending on the method
used, into other secondary products such as butter, ricotta cheese,
brossa cheese, or fresh cheese. At around midday the animals return
to the stall where they rest until 4 in the afternoon when the
evening milking begins and which lasts until 7. Then the herd
is taken again to pasture and the cheese maker starts making cheese
again.
The evening’s grazing normally takes place nearer the stall than
in the morning because there is less time available.
At around 9 the cows are back in the stall and the working day
finally comes to a close.
Fontina produced in the high pastures undoubtedly
presents high quality organoleptic characteristics linked to the
complexities of flavour which come from the aromatic components
present in the pastures and passed into the milk.
Recent in-depth studies have studied the fat component of high
pasture Fontina which, although being a product of animal origin,
presents a high percentage of unsaturated fats, which in recent
years have been attributed with extremely important nutritional
qualities. These molecules are synthesised directly by the ruminant
thanks to the precursors introduced with the constitutive diet,
from the quality pastures of the high mountains. The
use of mountain areas, as well as producing a unique product,
favours the maintenance of the territory.
Man’s presence in the mountain is vitally important
for maintaining mountain streams, creating irrigation canals,
restoring grazing areas and thus limiting the encroaching of woods.
These are only some examples showing how the coupling of farming
and environment is important for the economy of the mountain areas.
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