Climate-Friendly Cooking 🥕 Recipes

Swiss Cheese Fondue

How climate-friendly is the Swiss national dish?

15.11.2022 • Carbon Footprint: 4243 g CO₂e
Swiss Cheese Fondue

Recipe Categories:

Vegetarian Quick and easy Swiss

Ingredients:

cheese wine bread
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Cheese, bread, wine, a little garlic and spices - Swiss cheese fondue is ready. It may be the simplest of meals, but it is also the most delicious, especially on a cold winter’s day.

I live in Switzerland, and if there is such a thing as a national dish, it must be fondue. Originally a peasant dish from the French-speaking part of Switzerland, it became increasingly popular throughout the country in the 20th century - partly thanks to a fork and pan hire service, because unlike today, not every Swiss household had the necessary equipment (source).

The main ingredients are cheese, bread, wine and a little starch to bind them together. As a rule of thumb, the amount of bread is about the same as the amount of cheese. To ensure that the cheese and wine combine well to form a homogeneous mass, it is important to heat everything slowly, stirring constantly with a spoon in the shape of an eight.

Despite the simplicity of the basic ingredients, Swiss fondues are now available in a wide range of variations. Almost every fondue restaurant swears by a little trick (sparkling wine instead of white! garlic and paprika!). And apart from the classic version, you can find everything from beer fondue to ginger and lemon fondue…

Fondue Variations

The classic fondue is called moitié-moitié, which means “half and half”, but there are a whole range of cheese blends:

  • Fondue Moitié-Moitié is the classic, half Gruyère and half Vacherin fribourgeois.
  • The Valais fondue is a slight variation, with half Vacherin, a quarter Gruyère and a quarter Raclette.
  • Central Swiss fondue contains one third Gruyère, one third Emmental and one third Sbrinz (a local cheese similar to on Parmesan).
  • Appenzell fondue is made entirely from the Appenzell cheese of the same name.
  • Fondue Savoyarde is a French version with one third Emmental, one third Beaufort and one third Comté.

Personally, I prefer the classic moitié-moitié version - especially when, towards the end, a crispy layer of cheese has formed on the bottom, which is called “réligieuse” in French-speaking Switzerland and can be scraped off the bottom of the pot with a fondue fork or scraper.

Side Dishes for Fondue

The classic accompaniments to fondue are white bread cut into small pieces or boiled new potatoes. Baguette is generally a good accompaniment, but in Switzerland there is a special fondue bread.

A mixture of freshly ground pepper and nutmeg looks good on the plate, in which the fondue fork can be dipped with the hot piece of bread and cheese. Of course, you can get a bit more creative with the mixture and add some paprika or other spices.

A platter of cured meats, gherkins and pickled onions is also often served. There are now vegetarian options for the dried meat.

Sometimes, towards the end, when a crispy layer of cheese begins to form on the bottom of the caquelon, an egg is added to the pot while it is still hot.

Recipe

Related Recipes

A caquelon with fondue and side dishes

A caquelon with fondue and side dishes

Photo by: Angela Pham

Some classic garnishes for cheese fondue. Photo by Yann Allegre

Some classic garnishes for cheese fondue. Photo by Yann Allegre

Photo by: Yann Allegre

Ingredients

Preparation Time: 2 min

Total Time: 20 min

Servings: 2

  • • 2 garlic cloves
  • • 1 tablespoon oil
  • • 200 ml white wine
  • • 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
  • • 400 g grated hard cheese (see above for varieties)
  • • 2 teaspoon cornflour
  • • 2 cl cherry brandy (optional)
  • • about 400 g bread

Instructions

  1. 1
    Peel and finely chop the garlic.
  2. 2
    Heat the caquelon on the stove and sauté the garlic in a little oil.
  3. 3
    Mix the wine, lemon juice, cheese, cornflour and cherry brandy, then add to the casserole and heat slowly, stirring constantly.
  4. 4
    Cut the bread into small cubes and serve with the fondue. To keep the fondue warm and liquid, place the caquelon on a rack and set fire to the bowl of fuel paste underneath.

Carbon Footprint

Carbon Footprint (2 portions): 4243 g CO₂e

This ranks it number 56 out of 57 recipes published on the blog so far in terms of estimated carbon footprint.

In other words, it is one of the five recipes with the worst carbon footprint. 😱

Our Methodology Explained

As far as the ingredients are concerned, it is of course the cheese that dominates: in total, cheese accounts for only 38% of the weight of the ingredients in a cheese fondue, but for about 84% of the greenhouse gas emissions. All the other ingredients pale into insignificance: bread also accounts for 38% of the weight of the ingredients, but only 7% of the emissions of the cheese fondue.

Comparison of Ingredients