Grana Padano is a

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...

originating in the Po river Valley in northern Italy that is similar to

Parmigiano Reggiano Parmesan ( it, Parmigiano Reggiano; ) is an Italian hard, granular cheese produced from cows’ milk and aged at least 12 months. It is named after two of the areas which produce it, the provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia (''Parmigiano'' i ...

cheese. There are less strict regulations governing its production compared to Parmigiano Reggiano. This

hard Hard may refer to: * Hardness, resistance of physical materials to deformation or fracture * Hard water, water with high mineral content Arts and entertainment * ''Hard'' (TV series), a French TV series * Hard (band), a Hungarian hard rock supe ...

, crumbly- textured cheese is made with

unpasteurized Pasteurization or pasteurisation is a process of food preservation in which packaged and non-packaged foods (such as milk and fruit juices) are treated with mild heat, usually to less than , to eliminate pathogens and extend shelf life. Th ...

cows' milk that is semi- skimmed through a natural creaming process. To preserve the authenticity of the manufacturing processes and raw materials used to make this cheese, Grana Padano is registered as Geographical Indication in Italy since 1954 and as a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

protected designation of origin The protected designation of origin (PDO) is a type of geographical indication of the European Union and the United Kingdom aimed at preserving the designations of origin of food-related products. The designation was created in 1992 and its main ...

'' (PDO) since 1996, and is protected in several other countries based on the Lisbon Agreement and bilateral agreements.

Origin of the name

The name comes from the Italian word '' grana'', a reference to the characteristically grainy texture, and the

demonym A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...

''padano'', meaning "from

Val Padana The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain ( it, Pianura Padana , or ''Val Padana'') is a major geographical feature of Northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetic ex ...

" (the Po valley).

History

Grana Padano was developed by monks of

Chiaravalle Abbey The Abbey of Santa Maria di Rovegnano (Latin: ''Sanctæ Mariæ Clarævallis Mediolanensis'') is a Cistercian monastic complex in the ''comune'' of Milan, Lombardy, northern Italy. The '' borgo'' that has developed round the abbey was once an i ...

in the 12th century. It can last a long time without spoiling, and is sometimes aged for up to two years. It is made in a similar way to the

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

, but over a much wider area and with different regulations and controls.

Production process

, Grana Padano is a semi-fat hard cheese which is cooked and ripened slowly for at least nine months. If it passes quality tests, it is fire-branded with the Grana Padano trademark. The cows are milked twice a day. 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 warmed to . It is produced year-round, and varies 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 the better-known, longer-aged Parmigiano. About 150 factories make Grana Padano in the Po Valley area, and an estimated 76,724 tons of this cheese are manufactured annually.

Specifications

wheel A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction wi ...

of Grana Padano is cylindrical, with slightly convex or almost straight sides and flat faces. It is in diameter, and high. It weighs 24 to 40 kg (53 to 88 lbs) per wheel. The rind, which is thin, is pale 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 Marchiatura 2

Grana padano cheese typically contains

cheese crystals Cheese crystals are whitish, semi-solid to solid, slightly crunchy to gritty crystalline spots, granules, and aggregates that can form on the surface and inside of cheese. Cheese crystals are characteristic of many long-aged hard cheeses. Hard c ...

, semi-solid to gritty crystalline spots that at least partially consist of the

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...

tyrosine -Tyrosine or tyrosine (symbol Tyr or Y) or 4-hydroxyphenylalanine is one of the 20 standard amino acids that are used by cells to synthesize proteins. It is a non-essential amino acid with a polar side group. The word "tyrosine" is from the Gr ...

Nutritional value and calories

1.5 litres of fresh, naturally partially-skimmed cows' milk from the production area, are needed to make 100 g of Grana Padano PDO cheese. The Grana Padano processing and ageing procedures determine an important

bioavailability In pharmacology, bioavailability is a subcategory of absorption and is the fraction (%) of an administered drug that reaches the systemic circulation. By definition, when a medication is administered intravenously, its bioavailability is 100%. H ...

of vitamins and minerals, the supply of proteins with nine

essential amino acids An essential amino acid, or indispensable amino acid, is an amino acid that cannot be synthesized from scratch by the organism fast enough to supply its demand, and must therefore come from the diet. Of the 21 amino acids common to all life form ...

and make it a highly digestible product. In addition, Grana Padano is

lactose Lactose is a disaccharide sugar synthesized by galactose and glucose subunits and has the molecular formula C12H22O11. Lactose makes up around 2–8% of milk (by mass). The name comes from ' (gen. '), the Latin word for milk, plus the suffix '' - ...

-free due to the characteristics of its production and ageing process, which also leads to a reduction of lipids. It contains a galactose content of less than 10 mg per 100 g. The Grana Padano PDO Production Specifications regulates the entire production chain, from the cows' fodder to the branding of the wheels, therefore the average nutritional value and calories of Grana Padano PDO cheese remain stable and any variation in them is irrelevant for the purpose of defining a balanced diet. 100 grams of Grana Padano PDO cheese contain 398 kilocalories (1,666 kJ). Nutritional table for a medium portion of 100 grams of Grana Padano

References

Notes

Citations

External links

Official websiteVideo - How Grana Padano is madePhotos of the production process
{{Italian cheeses Italian cheeses Cheeses of Veneto Cow's-milk cheeses Italian products with protected designation of origin Cheeses with designation of origin protected in the European Union