Grana Padano Cheese (Quarter Wheel)

Grana Padano Cheese

Grana Padano cheese is among the Italian top cheeses that boast the greatest production. There are two types: "maggengo" if it is produced with milk from spring and summer, "vernengo" if it is made with milk from autumn and winter.

What makes Grana Padano so amazing?

It is a semi-fat hard cheese produced with cow's milk from two daily milkings.

Shape:

It comes with a golden, oiled and thick crust that weighs between 24 and 40 kg. The selection of Grana Padano cheese requires that the shapes be beaten with a special hammer and needle to check their consistency and aroma. Only those that meet the legal standards are marked both with the original cloverleaf mark which signals the province and the dairy, both with a diamond-shaped quality mark that attests to the typical characteristics and a wording that is repeated on the whole cheese crust.

Processing

Cow's milk is heated, calories and rennet are added after reaching 31-33 ° C. Then the curd is broken, purged and cooked at 53-55 ° C.

When the dough has become sour and elastic, it is divided into two forms that go to salting, which takes place by immersing the salt-saturated brine forms for 25-30 days. After that, forms go into seasoning for a period ranging from 12 to 14 months and beyond.

  At the table:

Grana Padano cheese is used mainly grated or in flakes. Its taste does not overlap with other flavors and is therefore very suitable for the preparation of meat, vegetable, and omelet fillings, but it is also used in flakes on appetizers or meat main courses such as carpaccio and beef fillet.

Curiosities

Not everyone knows that Grana Padano Trentino also exists. It is a cheese similar to Grana Padano, but the Trentino specification indicates that it is produced in the province of Trento with the use of milk from cows that graze in the surrounding Alpine valleys. It has a more pronounced taste and aroma.Grana Padano can be consumed in many different ways. Since 3 seasonings gives rise to 3 shades of cheese, from sweeter to more pronounced flavors, Grana Padano can be used in many ways while in the kitchen.

Grana Padano aged from 9 to 16 months

This type of cheese has a very sweet and delicate taste. It is also clear from a visual analysis: the color of Grana Padano aged from 9 to 16 months is very light straw-colored, while the consistency is compact and does not have the grain structure, typical of the other two maturations.

How can we eat it?

The months of seasoning allow the cheese to go well with fresh salads or a carpaccio. It is ideal to accompany your aperitifs, tasted in flakes but also to make sauces and creams.

A little gem: do you know that Grana Padano aged from 9 to 16 months can also be used for the preparation of desserts? An example among all: try it in the muffin dough.

A wine suitable to accompany this cheese is certainly a young white, fresh and fruity.

Grana Padano aged over 16 months

Compared to the first type, Grana Padano aged over 16 months has a more intense color and a more granular structure. The aging time is higher than the previous, allows to earn the formation of the so-called calcium lactate crystals. The taste is, therefore, more pronounced but never spicy.

It is very good for hot preparations such as flans, soufflés, vedure patties, or to cream pasta, risottos, and soups. As a wine, you can combine red with moderate intensity and body.

Grana Padano aged over 20 months

The long seasoning allows the Grana Padano to have an increasingly rich and full flavor, without being aggressive. The color is more intense than the others and the pasta is the typical one with a grain. It can be tasted at the table as both grated and as a table cheese. Try it with walnuts, fresh fruit, and mustards.

The Grana Padano cheese is a traditional, co-operative, pasteurized and hard gourmet Italian cheese. Its smooth, natural rind is extremely hard and thick. Grana Padano cheese is known to many as simply "Parmesan" cheese, but is specifically made from cow’s milk of the Northern Italy's Po River Valley following a tradition created by monks in 1000 AD. It was originally produced as a way of using up leftover milk and to this day is made with skimmed milk. Grana Padano cheese has a more subtle and less salty flavor than Parmesan. It also tends to be less expensive.

20 pound (9 kilogram) - WEIGHT APPROXIMATES

Ingredients: Cow's milk, salt, rennet, egg white lysozyme

Aging: 18 months
Flavor: Full-flavored, nutty, savory, sweet
Texture: Hard, crumbly, dense, flaky, grainy
Color: Pale yellow
Aroma: Fruity
Region: Po River Valley

Product of Italy