Gorgonzola

Gorgonzola (, ) is a famously pungent Italian blue cheese made from unskimmed cow's milk; believed to have been created in the 9th century; now with use of its name controlled under the criteria of a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).

Gorgonzola is available in two primary variations: ''Dolce'' with a more delicate flavor and buttery consistency, vs ''Piccante'' with a more pungent flavor and firm, crumbly texture. Either can be quite salty, with a "bite" from their blue veining. More recently, a variation has been marketed widely, featuring a layered block alternating the more assertive Gorgonzola with the more delicate Mascarpone, marketed as ''Gorgonzola e Mascarpone.''

The cheese takes its name from Lombardian town of Gorgonzola, Milan, where the cheese originated and which celebrates an annual September Gorgonzola festival, called the ''Sagra Nazionale del Gorgonzola''.

Within the European Union and countries recognizing Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), a cheese bearing the name ''Gorgonzola'' may only originate from its closely defined geographic locale. Outside the EU and countries recognizing the PDO, the name ''Gorgonzola'' may legally be used to designate similar blue-veined cheeses — as with those from, for example, Wisconsin, Vermont, or elsewhere within the USA.

History

Historically, Gorgonzola has been produced for centuries in Gorgonzola, Milan, acquiring its greenish-blue marbling in the 11th century. However, the town's claim of geographical origin is disputed by other nearby localities.

For example, another possible place of origin is the well known cheese-making area known for ancient dairy traditions, Pasturo nella Valsassina. This is because of the presence of superb natural caves that stay at the perfect temperature (between 6 and 12 degrees Celsius) to make Gorgonzola and many other cheeses. Gorgonzola was supposedly created in the Middle Ages from the years 879–1007 AD.

There is a Lombardy legend of Gorgonzola’s origin where a cheese maker added new fresh curds to a vat and left it open all night. He apparently forgot about the curds because he was in a rush to meet his lover. He attempted to fix his mistake and added fresh curds to the vat and a few months later he was surprised with a new bluish mold that had grown on his cheese. He tasted this and realized the surprisingly great and unique taste of the cheese. This was also the first discovery of the process of ''erborinatura'', the creation of mold.

Gorgonzola was referred to as ''Stracchino Verde'' until the early 20th century: ''Stracchino'' used to describe a number of young, soft cheeses — and ''verde'' refers to the cheese's blue-green veining.

Gorgonzola has been recognized since 1955 as a DOC in its ''Dolce'' and ''Picante'' variations — and since 1996, it has been registered as a DOP.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, popularity of Gorgonzola has steadily increased, with exports having exceeded the tens of thousands of tons per year. Exports include the UK, France, and Germany.
After World War II, a new technique called the "one-curd" processing method was introduced, addressing problems of hygiene, quality, and cost. As hundreds of cheese factories adopted the new techniques in the 1970s, smaller producers could not afford to modernize and went out of business.

Production

Today, Gorgonzola is mainly produced in the northern Italian regions of Piedmont and Lombardy. The whey is removed during curdling, and the result is aged at low temperatures.

During the ageing process, metal rods are quickly inserted and removed, creating air channels that allow the mould spores to grow into hyphae and cause the cheese's characteristic veining. Gorgonzola is typically aged for three to four months. The length of the ageing process determines the consistency of the cheese, which gets firmer as it ripens. There are two varieties of Gorgonzola, which differ mainly in their age: the less aged Gorgonzola Dolce (also called Sweet Gorgonzola), which can have a less salty taste and a slightly sweet finish, and the more aged Gorgonzola Piccante (also called Gorgonzola Naturale, Gorgonzola Montagna, or Mountain Gorgonzola).

Protected designation of origin

Under EU law, Gorgonzola has been registered as a protected designation of origin (PDO), or ''denominazione di origine protetta'' (DOP) in Italy, since 1996. This means that Gorgonzola sold in the European Union can only be produced in the provinces of Novara, Bergamo, Brescia, Como, Cremona, Cuneo, Lecco, Lodi, Milan, Pavia, Varese, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and Vercelli, as well as several ''comuni'' (municipalities) in the area of Casale Monferrato (province of Alessandria). As a Geographical indication, Gorgonzola produced in parts of Italy is protected in certain countries based on bilateral agreements of the European Union, membership of the Lisbon Agreement or national registration as a certification mark.

Non-European Gorgonzola cheese

Over time, production of the cheese outside Europe has led to the genericization of the term ''Gorgonzola'' in certain parts of the world, including in Australia. Gorgonzola cheese made outside of the European Union is a family of blue cheeses made from cows' milk and inspired by the original Italian cheese. Whole cow's milk is used, to which starter microbes are added with spores of the mould '' Penicillium glaucum''.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has established what is known as standards of identity (SOIs). SOIs give the US definitions of the basic nature of a food, its ingredients, and its common name. The US Code of Federal Regulations Title 21—Food and Drugs, Chapter I—Food and Drug Administration, Subchapter B—Food for Human Consumption describes a production process for "Gorgonzola" cheese. This SOI, in addition to establishing "Gorgonzola" as the product name for this type of cheese for production in the United States, would also apply to any "Gorgonzola" cheese imported from non-United States countries.

Consumption

Gorgonzola may be eaten in many ways, as with all blue cheeses. It is often added to salads, either straight or as part of a blue cheese dressing. Combined with other soft cheeses, it is an ingredient of pizza quattro formaggi ('four cheese pizza'). It is often used as a topping for steak, sometimes as a sauce with Port or other sweet wine. It may be melted into a risotto in the final stage of cooking, added to gnocchi, or served alongside polenta.

Nutrition is as follows: 1 ounce* of gorgonzola contains 100 calories, 9 g of fat, 375 mg of sodium, 1 g of carbohydrate and 6 g of protein. It contains 5.3 g of saturated fat.

Literary references

James Joyce, in his 1922 novel '' Ulysses'', gives his hero Bloom a lunch of "a glass of Burgundy and a Gorgonzola sandwich". In his 1972 book ''Ulysses on the Liffey'', critic and Joyce scholar Richard Ellmann suggests that "Besides serving as a parable that life breeds corruption, Gorgonzola is probably chosen also because of Dante's adventures with the Gorgon in the '' Inferno IX''. Bloom masters the monster by digesting her."

See also

* List of Italian cheeses

References

External links

Consortium for the Protection of Gorgonzola Cheese

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorgonzola (Cheese)
Cow's-milk cheeses
Blue cheeses
Italian products with protected designation of origin
Cheeses with designation of origin protected in the European Union
Lombard cheeses