After searching for and buying the right types of cheese, you’re finally ready to start making your cheese fondue. You enthusiastically add the cheese to that special cheese fondue pot, only to end up with a mess of stringy, clumpy cheese a few minutes later! What happened?!
It definitely happened to me, and it’s so disappointing. Luckily, there’s some real science behind that clumpy cheese. Casein proteins are responsible for that stringy network. To prevent it, all you need are some patience, acid, and, possibly, a little starch! Cheese Fondue Science
Wine and Acidity Wine is one of fondue’s few essential ingredients, and its importance goes beyond just flavor: the natural tartaric acid in wine prevents the cheese’s casein proteins from clumping together and turning the fondue into a stringy, broken mess.
Choose the right type of cheese
The first strategy to apply is to choose a cheese that is well suited for making cheese fondue. Traditionally, cheeses such as (Swiss) Gruyère, Comté (very similar to Gruyère, but French), Emmentaler, and Appenzeller cheese are used. These cheeses have a good flavor profile, crucial to make a delicious fondue, and aren’t that prone to clumping (though if mistreated, they still can!).
Generally speaking, it’s best to use cheeses that have been ripened for a longer period of time. That is, after manufacturing, they’ve been laid down to rest.
During ripening a wide range of chemical reactions occurs. These improve the flavor of the cheese, but also change its structure. For instance, enzymes, a special type of protein, will cut up casein proteins into smaller pieces. When the casein proteins are smaller, it’s harder to make large interconnected networks. The strands simply can’t connect in as many places. And that reduces the chances of stringy fondue significantly.
Whether or not cheese has ripened is often mentioned on a label. Fresh cheeses such as paneer and quese fresco haven’t undergone any, or very little, ripening, and definitely aren’t suitable for cheese fondue.
Apart from choosing a ripened cheese, you’d also want one with reasonable amounts of fat, water and salt. Fat serves as a lubricant between all those casein proteins, so helps prevent that network from forming. Water has a similar role, though if your cheese doesn’t contain much of it, you can easily make up for it by adding more water to your fondue, more on that later.
Lastly, salt also helps to prevent those large protein networks from forming. They can take up the place of some of the calcium ions, inhibiting the formation of a strong sturdy network. Most ripened cheeses do contain a good amount of salt, so this is not necessarily an easy characteristic to base your choice of cheese on, but from a scientific point of view it shouldn’t be neglected.
A final cheese characteristic that can be important, is whether or not (a lot of) acid was used during manufacturing. There are a lot of different ways in which to make cheese. Some of these methods involve adding acid to the milk to help it curdle. The acid takes out some of the calcium. As a result, these types of cheese naturally contain less calcium. So, they’re less prone to stringiness.
This is not something that is typically given on a type of cheese, so checking with a cheese expert would be the best way to find out.
Cheese fondue originated in Europe, more specifically, in the Alps. As such, you’d find that most recipes use cheeses that stem from that region. However, that does not mean that only those cheeses work! Feel free to experiment with cheeses that may be similar in style to the ‘original’ ones, but that aren’t ‘original’. Hot white wine, the potato starch at the top left has been mixed with cold water and is ready to be mixed in!
Stringiness is caused by caseins
The large, undesirable clumps in cheese fondue can all be traced back to one ‘culprit’: casein proteins. Casein proteins are one of two major types of protein present in cow’s milk – the other being whey. Thanks to casein proteins, milk can curdle. And it’s those curds of casein proteins that form the basis of cheese. However, in cheese fondue, these curds can ‘misbehave’ and form undesirable clumps and lumps.
But you can’t just take out the casein. You’ll have no cheese left. Instead, to prevent clumpy cheese fondue, you’ll need to learn how to deal with these finicky proteins. Because, if treated well, they won’t be in your way at all. A failed cheese fondue, notice the orange/yellow hue on the top? That’s fat that has split off the fondue. Those white spots? Clumps of cheese. It wasn’t perfect, we still ate it anyway, would have been a waste to throw out!
Casein proteins, just like any other protein, are long strands of amino acids. They’re like long necklaces, with individual amino acids making up the beads. These beads aren’t ‘passive’ though, they can interact with their environment. They can interact with each other, for instance, they might repel, or attract one another. Or, they can interact with other components present in the cheese fondue.
When cheese is melted, proteins can move around more freely and re-organize themselves. Some amino acids on those chains may interact with calcium, which is naturally present in cheese. Casein proteins (at a high enough pH) are negatively charged, whereas calcium ions are positively charged. That means, they attract one another. They align themselves and form large networks in which several proteins align and connect. These networks are what make a cheese fondue stringy. The more tightly bound the protein + calcium network is, the more stringy the cheese.
In a cheese fondue, you do not want these networks to form. Luckily, there are ample strategies you can use to prevent it from happening.
How to save a broken cheese fondue
FAQ
How do you fix clumping fondue?
How do you keep cheese fondue from separating?
What causes fondue to curdle?
How do you keep cheese fondue runny?
How do you re-emulsify fondue?
If the fondue has been over-cooked and the cheese is turning into hard lumps then adding a teaspoon or two of lemon juice should help to restore the texture. If the cheese has split and looks greasy but not lumpy then adding extra cornflour (cornstarch) will help to re-emulsify the mixture.
Can you eat melted cheese fondue?
Cheese fondue is fun to eat, but you must cook it over low heat and stir constantly to get rid of any lumps. Melted cheese is a staple ingredient for many recipes: cheese quesadillas, loaded nachos, grilled cheese sandwiches and much more. The ultimate melted cheese dish, though, might be ooey-gooey cheese fondue.
How do you make a fondue?
Slice garlic in half, rub in fondue pot. Warm beer without boiling. Mix cornstarch and cheeses. Stir cheese into beer, one handful at a time, allowing to melt in-between additions. Do you remember when you had lumps? Was it when you added the corn starch? Or after a type of cheese? Its happened to me before.
Are there lumps in cheese fondue?
But one problem you may run into when making cheese fondue is the dreaded lumps. The consistency should be creamy and smooth (no one wants lumpy cheese fondue). Here, we spoke to Susy Massetti, a professional chef and restaurateur, on how to get rid of lumps in cheese fondue. 1. Warm Up Fondue on Low Heat