Fontina

Fontina is notable for histamine, tyramine and oxalates. Clear on salicylate, sucrose, FODMAPs, lactose, oligosaccharides, sorbitol, fructose, nickel and gluten.

Fontina contains moderate levels of histamine. Fontina is ripened eighty days at the minimum under its DOP - short, for this group - and that is the reason the group has no single histamine answer. A semi-soft cheese ripened for a season measures well below a hard cheese ripened for the twelve months a parmigiano's specification asks of it, and fontina is the clearest example of that on this list. Across a shelf of retail cheeses the spread is enormous and the variety is a weak predictor. Pasteurisation, starter culture, salt and ripening time are the real variables.

Fontina contains moderate levels of tyramine. Fontina is the other moderate tyramine here, and the reason is simply time: its DOP specification sets eighty days as the minimum ripening, against the twelve months parmigiano's specification requires. Same milk, same bacteria, under a quarter of the ageing - the clearest demonstration in this group that the cheese family tells you nothing and the ageing tells you everything.

Fontina contains only low levels of oxalates. Fontina contains no oxalate of its own - oxalate is a plant compound and this is not a plant. A melting cheese, and melting changes texture, not content: there was no oxalate in the milk to concentrate. Its calcium even helps the rest of the plate: it binds oxalate from whatever is eaten alongside. Amounts vary by brand and recipe, so always check the label of the exact product.