What is the main ingredient in a traditional Swiss fondue?

Fondue is a Swiss dish of melted cheese served in a communal pot over a portable stove heated with a candle or spirit lamp, and eaten by dipping bread into the cheese using long-stemmed forks. It was promoted as a Swiss national dish by the Swiss Cheese Union in the 1930s, and was popularized in North America in the 1960s.

Since the 1950s, the name "fondue" has been generalized to other dishes in which a food is dipped into a communal pot of liquid kept hot in a fondue pot: chocolate fondue, in which pieces of fruit or pastry are dipped into a melted chocolate mixture, and fondue bourguignonne, in which pieces of meat are cooked in hot oil or broth.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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47 Comments

Boyd Tracy

Surprised the report did not clarify that to be really authentic at very least the primary cheese ingredient should be gruyere cheese and in addition to the dry white wine needs a dash of kirsch (a swiss liquor) and a pinch of nutmeg. To get really authentic there are a couple of other Swiss cheeses and a specific white wine: but the gruyere, and kirsch are sine qua non.

Andrew Thompson

Boyd Tracy, Gruyere is just one cheese that can be used. There are others such as Emmental that are no less authentic.

David Roy

Steve Devlin, it doesn't say 'both', it says 'broth'.

Sergey Boev

Traditionally a white wine is drunk with the fondue. It is eaten with pieces of bread speared on long forks dipped in the pot and then put them into the mouth. If someone loses its piece of bread in the pot he/she pays for the wine.

Sal Campion

I remember back in late 60s as a teenager being invited by the vicar to his fondue night! I had never heard of it at that time and had to be told what and how to dip the bread, carrots or celery into the melted pot of cheese! I thought it was a very cool, hip thing to do!