Gorgonzola DOP dolce/piccante Italian cheese,Italy price supplier

Gorgonzola is a straw-white, soft cheese with greenish streaks deriving from a process called "erborinatura" in Italian, that is the creation of moulds. 

This cheese is creamy and soft, with a peculiar, typical taste. Soft gorgonzola cheese is slightly spicy; spicy gorgonzola, whose curd is more blue-veined, is thicker and more crumbly. 

In order to enjoy better soft gorgonzola qualities, it is recommended that you take it out from the fridge at least thirty minutes before consumption.
Both types of Gorgonzola cheese are produced with pasteurised milk coming from cattle stations placed in the origin area, milk Enzymes, and selected moulds giving the cheese its peculiar streaks. 

Maturing lasts at least 50 days for softer types, and more than 80 days for spicy Gorgonzola. 

How to recognise it  

Gorgonzola rounds are marked at the origin on both flat faces. Consumers may recognise the cheese when they buy it by the   brand printed on the aluminium sheet wrapping the cheese, which is exclusively assigned to the producers authorised by the Consortium.

By law and tradition, Gorgonzola cheese production is allowed in only two Italian regions and only the following provinces: Novara, Vercelli, Cuneo, Biella, Verbano Cusio Ossola, and the area of Casale Monferrato for Piedmont region, and Bergamo, Brescia, Como, Cremona, Lecco, Lodi, Milano, Monza, Pavia, and Varese for Lombardy region. (See map of members) 

Only milk produced in such provinces may be used to produce and grant Gorgonzola cheese a DPO certification, ensuring its authenticity from raw material. 

Gorgonzola cheese is now produced by approximately 30 cheese factories in modern plants processing milk in accordance with hygiene and health standards, with fully equipped laboratories and the care and experience required for a kind of cheese that requires significant manual work and inspections.
 During the Middle Ages, in the valleys surrounding Milan - the birthplace of Gorgonzola cheese - this cheese by the name of “stracchino” was administered to treat gastrointestinal disorders. Moreover, besides enjoying great health and perfect intestinal functions, Gorgonzola consumers were deemed to be extremely long-lived people. In today's dairy industry, rumours say that maturing operators are particularly resistant to infectious diseases, despite their work in cold rooms. 

Still today, Gorgonzola cheese must be produced with extremely pure, high-quality milk not containing any disinfectant, pesticide or antibiotic commonly used in agriculture and animal breeding. Otherwise, the typical mould and milk enzymes which give the product its organoleptic features, so delicate and sensitive to the surrounding environment, could not reproduce. 

Milk enzymes are in fact crucial in the production of this cheese. They are similar to bacilli contained in Yoghurt and even more to bacilli contained in antidiarrhoeal products sold in pharmacies. 

Producing the typical greenish streaks, Gorgonzola cheese moulds are classified as "Penicillum roqueforti" and particularly the "glaucum" and "weidemannii" sub-species belonging to the family of far more renowned "Penicillum notatum" and "chrysogenum" from which penicillin is extracted. 

One could now wonder whether milk enzymes and moulds – but even more, the substances they produce – have any positive influence on the intestinal bacterial flora, or are to be associated with a given bacteriostatic and antibiotic activity. 

Our ancestors probably understood this with common sense and experience: our task will be to provide scientific evidence to these legends. 

After a few centuries, Gorgonzola cheese experienced slight changes in both appearance and taste, following consumers' preferences for softer, less greenish and spicy cheese, though keeping its outstanding nutritional characteristics. 

Extremely rich in minerals and vitamins, Gorgonzola cheese has a significant content in Proteins and a moderate fat content compared with other cheeses. 

Its unmistakable aroma and taste also make this cheese particularly appealing for inappetent patients suffering from chronic and neoplastic diseases, including diseases treated with chemotherapy, as shown by recent tests by Dr. Attilio Giacosa at the “Istituto Tumori”, Gastroenterology Operating Unit of Genoa. Gorgonzola cheese is also being used in a range of tests carried out at a research unit in Lombardy specialised in cardiovascular rehabilitation therapies. 

In conclusion, it can be said that Gorgonzola cheese is a unique, extraordinary food for its history, nutritional, and antioxidant properties, its organoleptic characteristics and authenticity, its palatability and digestibility, and its great potentials in cooking.