|
Grana Padano |
 |
| Country of origin |
Italy |
| Region, town |
Emilia-Romagna:
province of
Piacenza
Lombardy:
provinces of
Bergamo,
Brescia
Cremona,
Lodi,
Mantua (to the left of the
Po),
Milan and
Pavia
Piedmont:
province of
Cuneo
Trentino:
province of
Trentino
Veneto:
province of
Padua,
Verona
Vicenza,
Rovigo and
Treviso,
In addition to these main centres
production is permitted in
Emilia Romagna: province of
Bologna
(to the right of the
Reno)
Ferrara,
Ravenna,
Forlì-Cesena. and
Rimini
Lombardy: provinces of
Como,
Lecco,
Sondrio and
Varese
Piedmont: provinces of
Alessandria,
Asti,
Biella,
Verbano-Cusio-Ossola,
Novara,
Turin and
Vercelli
Veneto: province of
Venice |
| Source of milk |
Cows |
| Pasteurised |
No |
| Texture |
Hard |
| Aging time |
8–20 months |
| Certification |
Italy:
DO 1955
EU:
PDO 1996 |
Grana Padano (IPA: [ˈɡraːna
paˈdaːno]) (Denominazione di Origine Protetta, DOP, in
Italian, Protected Designation of Origin,
PDO, in English; Denominazione di Origine Controllata, DOC, in
Italian, Controlled Designation of Origin, CDO, in English) is one of
the most popular
cheeses
of Italy.
The name comes from the noun
grana (‘grain’), which refers to the distinctively grainy
texture of the cheese, and the adjective Padano, which refers to
the valley
Pianura Padana. (The reason this cheese is called "Grana Padano" and
not "Grana Padana" is because in this case the Italian word grana
is the masculine noun, il grana, describing this specific cheese,
and not the feminine noun la grana, which means "grain").
Grana Padano is one of the world's first hard cheeses, created nearly
900 years ago by the
Cistercian monks of
Chiaravalle Abbey, founded in 1135 near
Milan,
who used ripened cheese as a way of preserving surplus milk. By the year
1477, it was regarded as one of the most famous cheeses of Italy. It can
last a long time without spoiling, sometimes aging up to two years. It
is made in a similar way to the
Parmigiano Reggiano of
Emilia-Romagna but over a much wider area and with different
regulations and controls. Other grana cheeses are also made in
Lombardy,
Piedmont,
Trentino, and
Veneto.[citation
needed]
Like Parmigiano Reggiano, Grana Padano is a semifat hard cheese which
is cooked and ripened slowly (for at least 9 months, then, if it passes
the quality tests, it will be fire-branded with the Grana Padano
trademark). The cows are milked twice a day, the milk is left to stand,
and then partially skimmed. Milk produced in the evening is skimmed to
remove the surface layer of cream and mixed with fresh milk produced in
the morning. The partly skimmed milk is transferred into copper kettles
and coagulated; the resulting curd is cut to produce granules with the
size of rice grains, which gives the cheese its characteristic texture,
and then cooked to 53-56°C. It is produced year-round and the quality
can vary seasonally as well as by year. Though similar to
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, the younger Grana Padano cheeses are
less crumbly, milder and less complex in flavor than their more famous,
longer-aged relative.
A
wheel of Grana Padano is cylindrical, with slightly convex or almost
straight sides and flat faces. It measures 35 to 45 cm in diameter, and
15 to 18 cm in height. It weighs 24 to 40 kg (53 to 88 lbs) per wheel.
The rind, which is thin, is white or straw yellow.
Grana Padano is sold in three different ripening stages:
- "Grana Padano" (9 to 16 months): texture still creamy, only
slightly grainy
- "Grana Padano oltre 16 mesi" (over 16 months): crumblier
texture, more pronounced taste
- "Grana Padano Riserva" (over 20 months): grainy, crumbly and
full flavoured
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