Group · Dairy
Fontina
Fontina is a cheese from the Aosta Valley, with a semi-hard paste and a brown rind, made from the raw milk of Valdostana cows. An Italian PDO since 1996, it is the essential ingredient of fonduta, the Piedmontese fondue.
In terms of nutrition facts: 384 kcal per 100 g, with 31.1 g of fat of which 19.2 g is saturated, and 25.1 g of protein. It provides 550 mg of calcium, 346 mg of phosphorus, 3.5 mg of zinc and 261 µg of vitamin A per 100 g. One point to watch: 2 g of salt.
Macronutrient breakdown
Nutrition table per 100 g
| Calories | 384 kcal |
| Kilojoules | 1590 kJ |
| Protein | 25,1 g |
| Carbohydrate | 0,8 g |
| Fat | 31,1 g |
Micronutrients per 100 g
All measured nutrients, ranked by share of the daily reference intake.
- Calcium550 mg69 %
- Vitamin B121,68 µg67 %
- Phosphorus346 mg49 %
- Zinc3,5 mg35 %
- Vitamin A261 µg33 %
- Vitamin B20,2 mg14 %
- Vitamin D0,6 µg12 %
- Vitamin B50,43 mg7 %
See the other 11 nutrients
- Vitamin B60,08 mg6 %
- Magnesium14 mg4 %
- Vitamin K12,6 µg3 %
- Potassium64 mg3 %
- Vitamin B96 µg3 %
- Copper0,03 mg3 %
- Vitamin E0,27 mg2 %
- Vitamin B10,02 mg2 %
- Iron0,23 mg2 %
- Vitamin B30,15 mg1 %
- Manganese0,01 mg1 %
Anses Ciqual 2025. Source: Anses, 2025, Ciqual food composition table
Tips
It melts without stringing or graininess. This is its decisive technical quality, and the reason it is used in fondue: its semi-hard paste liquefies evenly. A fonduta calls for 200 g per person, or 768 kcal: treat it as a whole meal.
2 g of salt per 100 g. A 200 g fondue provides 4 g of salt, almost the whole daily guideline. The bread served with it adds more: do not salt anything else that day. See salt.
550 mg of calcium, 3.5 mg of zinc. A 30 g portion covers 21% of the calcium requirement and 10% of zinc. Like all pressed cheeses, it concentrates the minerals of the milk.
Raw, it is also worth trying. Its hazelnut taste and supple texture make it a very approachable cheeseboard cheese, provided you buy a genuine fontina DOP and not an industrial « fontal », which is far blander.
Raw milk. The PDO requires it: not recommended for pregnant women or people with weakened immune systems, except in a fondue, where it is heated right through.