Cheese Database

Fontina vs Raschera

Fontina, field guide plate
Fontina, photographed

Fontina

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Semi-soft
Type
Pressed
Rind
Washed rind
Country
Italy
Place
Aosta Valley
Status
PDO

Fontina Val d'Aosta is a cow's-milk cheese from the Aosta Valley, and a protected cheese. The rind is washed. The paste is elastic and smells of the cellar.

Raschera

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Semi-hard
Type
Pressed
Rind
Natural rind
Country
Italy
Place
Piedmont
Status
PDO

Raschera is a semi-hard cow's milk cheese from Italy, pressed into wheels that may be square or round. It belongs to the mountain dairy tradition of Piedmont, where herds feed on alpine grass. The paste is firm and elastic, ivory to pale straw, with a scattering of tiny holes. A thin natural rind runs from gray to a reddish tone, sometimes with a yellow cast. The name is protected.