Grand cheese

Grand cheese
Magazine: May 2008

It is easy to say “grana”, but the only cheese actually able boast about its title is the DOP kind, produced in specifi c territories the Po Valley, namely 32 provinces, rich in pastureland and cattle, reaching from Piedmont to Veneto, from Trento to Piacenza. The product has ancient origins and worldwide fame. The Grana Padano DOP is born around 1,000 A.C., thus celebrating more than 10 centuries of existence. At that time, in the Po Valley, land reclamation and canalisation made the area’s agriculture thrive, and cattle-farming with it. The milk surplus sharpened the farmers’ wit, and to avoid this by-product’s waste, dairy methods were soon improved. The current Grana Padano originates in 1135 with the Monks of the Chiaravalle abbey, who discovered the recipe for fi rm cheese, which kept its characteristics unchanged for long. Following, many other monasteries copied the “caseus vetus” formula, and the people renamed it “Grana”, due to its granularity. Throughout the centuries, the production of this cheese spread and its popularity extended abroad. Coming to our period, in 1954 the Consortium for the safeguard of the Grana Padano Cheese was founded, with the objective of protecting and promoting the product, guarding its DOP.

In search of quality
The same loving attention given to the DOP is what links dairy producers at sea, in the mountains, small and large. “The Consortium is made up of 212 companies, which include 165 dairy factories”, relates its president Nicola Cesare Baldrighi. In the past year, 1,164,487 forms of DOP have taken the road abroad, opposing their second-rate doubles in the U.S., Australia, Canada and Japan. “If our procedures are not followed, it is not a Grana Padano, but an imitation”, declares the president, “furthermore, if its form is not rated perfect by the experts, the lozenge-shaped label is denied”. The guarantee is shown on the product by the DOP symbol, the CE stamp, the lozenge on its fl ank, alternating “grana” and “padano” inscriptions, production month and year, the logo with the birthplace code and the “four-leaf clover” with the province abbreviation and the dairy matriculation number. The authentic Grana Padano can be recognised by using all fi ve senses – suggests Lorenzo Maggioni from the National Organization of Cheese Tasters: “The DOP should be served in one piece, so slivers can be scooped out and its granulose consistency checked. A good product should be fragrant and tasty”.