Hi, I'm testing this one and tried it today. It smells great and even tastes good but it separated. There's a wonderful bubbling crust but when I...

Hi... so yes I have made alot of versions, and they were not all creamy smooth, some were a bit grainy, some were smooth, it all depended on what cheeses we had one hand. I never found it particularly bad when it separated, because it still tasted really good.

The cheddar is probably the culprit as Greenstuff has pointed out, cheddar weeps oil ...one way to combat this is to make sure to include at least one soft creamy cheese, fresh goat or a brie or Italian fontina, an young gouda or gruyere, something like that and if you have it on hand a tablespoon or so of cream cheese, with its added emulsifiers will contribute to a creamy texture.

I'd try replacing the cheddar with gruyere if you want to give it another go.

Separating cheese is a huge issue when making fondues. Acidity can combat the problem. It's the reason for acidic wines in Swiss recipes in general and the lemon juice in the version that's currently a finalist. The type of cheese you use has a big impact. Harold McGee says that cheddar (and Roquefort) is more likely to exude fat than the alpine cheese. Parmesan is not your culprit. Hopefully aliwaks will respond, because it sounds like she's made a whole lot of versions.