Description
Grana Padano is a wonderful semi-fat hard cheese which is matured slowly. It may be used as a table cheese or for grating. A golden oily rind encases a white or straw-coloured fine-grained cheese with crumbly fissures radiating outwards from the centre. The taste is fragrant and delicate. Grana Padano is similar to a Reggiano Parmesan: grate on soup, pasta or in sauces. Grana Padano was created at the beginning of the millennium by the Cistercian monks of Chiaravalle who used ripened cheese as a way of preserving surplus milk. Between 1150 and 1200 a large number of cheese-makers became engaged in the production of Grana Padano, and by 1477 it was held to be the most famous cheese of Italy. This sweet and savoury cheese became a particular favourite of the people of Lombardy and its production spread throughout the region.