Hi,

I am newly pregnant and wondering if it is safe to eat Fondue while I am pregnant.
I know cooked cheese is fine, but am wondering about the wine/alcohol content, is it safe to eat?

Let me know, anyone that has experience with this.

The alcohol content of fondue is virtually negligible and you can always decide how much you put in yourself. Unless of course you are going to a restaurant.

I think your biggest problem will be the weight gain due to indulgence

Personally I never worried about it, I mean you don't eat fondue every day, do you? The wine in the fondue is cooked, so most of the alcohol should be evaporated (at least that's what I always heard) -- perhaps just lay off the kirsch served with it!!

Anyhow, good luck -- it is a wonderful time, and enjoy your pregnancy!

Or you can purchase non-alcoholic wine to put into your fondue, to give it the 'flavor' without the alcohol.

Or... you can boil the wine gently for a bit (I don't know how long, exactly) to rid it of alcohol, as alcohol boils at a lower point than water. Then you add your cheese, etc. Stay away from the kirsch, though!

Alternatively, cook a genuine fondue fribourgeois, made with 100% Vacherin and with water instead of wine, melted over a bain marie.

I saw fondue cheese at a grocery store in Germany that had 0% alcohol. I imagine it's available in CH too.

But... that said... wouldn't the alcohol cook off? I understand the reason the alcohol (wine) is in the fondue cheese is to add flavor.

You may not want to eat a whole meal, i found it too rich and acidic for my pregnant belly. It gave me terrible heartburn and we had to leave the restaurant early as i was quite ill.

When not pregnant i love it!

You don't have to be pregnant to feel like that after eating fondue!

Not all alcohol cooks off - for food, it depends on the cooking time/method. In the case of fondue, I'd guess that about 25-30% of the original alcohol remains: http://homecooking.about.com/library...lalcohol12.htm

A real Fribourgeois you have become!!! Congrats!
And don't forget to rub the caquelon with garlic first.

That said, it's up to you to decide whether that's a risk for you and your baby. Recent science suggests that occasional alcohol (i.e., not heavy drinking) is not super worrisome. But again - up to you. (same with: caffeine, raw fish, deli meats, raw cheeses, shellfish, etc., etc., etc., etc.)

As we found out when our six-year old ate quite a bit of fondue

Hi there,

I dont think eating fondue during pregnancy is harmful. My wife is a big time cheese eater. She use to eat a lot of cheese stuffs during her pregnancy. Please dont listen to me, as I am just an IT support, please consult your family doctor.

Why not just play it safe and avoid it for 9 months?
Have a big fondue party when the baby is born.
Congrats and Healthy eating.

As I said earlier, the amount of actual alcohol you consume will probably be far far less than in a single glass of wine, and even that has be shown not to be harmful to a developing baby. Go ahead and enjoy it for pete's sake.

What happened?

Let's just say he would have probably failed the "walking in a straight line" test.

Anyhow, I wanted to add a lot less kirsch. My wife added it and afterwards she admitted she had been wrong and lessons were learnt.

I've continued to eat fondue every now and then while I've been pregnant. I keep out the kirsch, and have the pot on the heat a little longer than normal before we start eating to let some more of the alcohol burn off. That being said, I've never asked my doctor about it, but I think the amount of alcohol left doing it this way is really minimal

I think that's the thing to do. Add the wine but leave out the Kirsch.