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Friday, 06 July 2007 |
One of the best known Italian cheeses, the
origin of gorgonzola was Lombardy but the
modern HQ for the cheese is Novara in
Piemonte and much of it is produced there. To
clear up the origin issue – both the small town
of Gorgonzola to the east of Milan, with
references back to 879AD, and the dairy cattle
and cheese-making area around Pasturo in the
Valsassina valley, between Lecco and Sondrio,
make claim to it, and
both are in Lombardy.
Since the 19th century, the manufacturing area
for gorgonzola has spread to cover Pavia,
Novara and Cuneo in Piemonte, and as far east
as Brescia and south as Cremona in Lombardy.
It is a large area, but with such huge home and
export markets this is not surprising.
Much of the cheese is now made at
industrial level, but cheeses are still produced by
artisans and a few farmers, though the farm
cheeses are seldom seen out of Italy. What is
important is the degree of controls and
protection. The first control came in 1955 as a
designation of origin (DOC) but during the
1960s, with an invasion of ‘copy cat’ cheeses
(Italian, as well as foreign produced, most of
which were cheap – and nasty – imitations for
the cut-price market), tighter regulations were
required. Two Consortia (Lombardy and
Piemonte) were set up in 1968; they
amalgamated in 1970 and following a
ministerial decree in 1971, the name, area of
production and all the other trappings for
gorgonzola cheese was ratified. The ‘g’ mark
was introduced in 1975 and the Denomination
of Protected Origin (DOP) in 1977.
Three types of gorgonzola are produced,
two of them are creamy-white in colour with
greenish ‘mould’ running through them, while
in the third, the veins are closer to blue than
green. The UK and Italian markets prefer the
spicy or slightly spicy, soft and creamy types of
cheese, ripened for around two months. The
harder, more mature, blue-veined gorgonzola is
the one seemingly preferred in France and
Germany. It is matured for three months.
Gorgonzola is a very versatile cheese: not
only is it good to eat on its own, but there are a
myriad of both savoury and dessert recipes
offered and it is even used in a soup.
Expect to pay between €12 and €16 a kilo,
but to ensure authenticity check for the ‘g’ mark
on the foil wrapper.
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