The Fondue Revival Starts Here!

Recently in The Cheese Shed we've become slightly obsessed about fondue. Now - full disclosure: not long ago I had never tried it, and in fact I probably tended to pigeon-hole it as a rather dated 70s thing - something that had come and gone. But it turns out that fondue is having a bit of a moment, being rediscovered.

So what is fondue ? Well, it hails from Switzerland and basically consists of a gorgeous pot of melted cheese for dipping. Possibly the ultimate winter comfort food, it's also a sharing experience and has a lovely social aspect as you and your partner or your family gather around the fondue pot dipping cubes of crusty bread into the thick, glossy - and slightly alcoholic - fondue. Did I mention alcohol? Well, in addition to emmenthal and gruyere, Swiss-style fondue crucially involves white wine and kirsch.

Now we've done a bit of work and created our own version of this, but using - as you'd expect - some top-notch ingedients from our own region. Out go the Swiss cheeses, to be replaced by beautiful Haytor and Ogleshield. Out goes the kirsch, in comes Somerset Cider Brandy's Apple Eau de Vie.

A fondue is not just a cheese sauce. And it can go wrong. But making it is surprisingly easy ... as long as you obey a few key rules! Keep the heat gentle ... work some cornflour into your grated cheese ... then add it cheese a little at a time and take it slowly.

The results of our research? Fondue has landed in The Cheese Shed. So we now have a mini fondue set you can use if you fancy trying it out ... or, you can buy all the ingedients for our version ... or, we have the whole lot bundled together as The Fondue Experience! This is basically a complete fondue-kit-in-a-box, and should make a lovely gift. Each one comes with our tweaked fondue recipe, which can also see on the 'about' tab here. Happy dipping!