A thick slice of fontina cheese.
When selecting a fontina cheese, the customer must pay attention to all the qualities of the cheese. The cheese must be visually inspected to verify that the color is uniform and that there is no mold. Handling the cheese can help determine if it has matured evenly. If possible, you should also smell and taste the cheese before buying it, as the quality of fontina cheese depends mainly on its taste.
The buyer must check the appearance of the cheese before purchasing it. Fontina cheese is usually light yellow or cream in the center, with a more pronounced yellow hue on the rind, which is usually a medium shade of orange-brown. There should be no blue or green spots on the cheese, indicating mold. Small holes in the cheese can be ignored as they often form when air bubbles become trapped in the fermenting cheese.
Texture is another important consideration when choosing a fontina cheese. In its softest form, the fontina should sag when squeezed, but should not be so soft that it breaks. At its firmest, fontina is hard to the touch, though not as firm as dried jackfruit or Parmesan cheese. The texture should be similar throughout the cheese, with no soft or hard parts.
The smell of cheese should also be taken into account when choosing a cheese. In general, young fontina cheese, still soft, has a mild smell, but it should not be too pungent. Older cheese may have a pronounced odor. Fontina cheese will ripen if left at room temperature, causing the smell to increase in intensity.
Finally, the most important factor in selecting fontina cheese is the flavor of the cheese. Whenever possible, cheese should be tasted before purchase, which is common practice in cheese dairies and even in some modern supermarkets. The younger cheese is light and creamy, but the aged fontina has a more nutty and complex flavor. By tasting the cheese first, the customer can be sure that he is buying a cheese that he will like. A fontina cheese should be chosen that has the type of flavor that best complements its intended use.