Grana padano Cheese – what it is and where to buy it

Grana Padano cheese is a hard, cooked, slow-ripening Italian cheese made from raw cow’s milk milked in the Po Valley. It is produced in Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont, Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto. Since it is a PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) cheese, all the stages of the production chain must obligatorily take place in the area of origin.

People often ask whether grana padano is vegetarian. It is not, becuse as with many other cheeses and also Parmesan, rennet, extracted from animal stomachs, is used.

Grana Padano vs Parmesan

Grana and parmesan are not the same thing.

Parmigiano Reggiano is composed of a part of whole milk and a part of skimmed milk. Grana Padano, on the other hand, contains only skimmed milk, thus being slightly less fatty than Parmigiano and arriving earlier at maturity. The taste is also slightly different but both cheeses are super good and tasty.

The Origins

The origin of Grana Padano cheese dates back to around 1000 A.D. by the Catholic monastic order of the Cistercians of Chiaravalle. 

Since there were no modern methods of preserving fresh milk at the time, the monks adopted the old cheese-making method, which became Grana Padano in 1951.

Grana Padano cheese was therefore produced in several monasteries (ancestors of modern cheese factories) and were located in the Po Valley.

The monks named this new product with a Latin name: ‘caseus vetus’, or old cheese, to distinguish it from fresh cheeses that had to be consumed within a short time.

FUN FACT: However, the common people were unfamiliar with Latin. So they gave the new cheese the name ‘grana’ because of the presence of white granules in the compact paste.

You can order grana padano whenever you want on Vico Food Box. We ship all the most famous brands in Italy throughout Europe and UK.