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Gorgonzola DOP is rich in micronutrients that are useful for our health, especially in vitamins and mineral salts, including calcium, phosphorous and zinc.
Water-soluble vitamins are found in the aqueous phase of milk and their amount in cheese is subject to variation due to the heating processes that are carried out during cheese-making. Milk is a good source of riboflavin (vitamin B2), pantothenic acid and, to a lesser extent, folates and vitamin B12.
Worthy of note, in particular, is the positive effect on the preservation of a healthy bone structure, thanks to a number of nutrients, including, in particular, proteins, zinc and, obviously, calcium and phosphorous. With regard to calcium, like with other minerals, what matters is not only the total intake but also the percentage that is actually absorbed by the body, transported to the sites of action and converted into a valid active form. This variable is generally defined as ‘bioavailability’. The distribution of calcium, magnesium, phosphate and citrate and their interactions with proteins are particularly important in terms of bioavailability, that is in terms of their actual intestinal absorption. In Gorgonzola DOP, calcium is highly bioavailable and the calcium/phosphorous ratio is also optimal.
Thanks to its high content of vitamins and mineral salts, Gorgonzola DOP can be rightly regarded as a food with remarkable protective properties and can therefore be recommended as part of a healthy and balanced diet.
Gorgonzola is a very ancient cheese. Some say Gorgonzola was first produced in the town of Gorgonzola, near Milan, in the year 879 AD. Some other say that it was first produced in Pasturo nella Valsassina, a great cheese-making area for centuries, due to the presence of excellent natural caves where the average temperature is constantly between 6°C and 12°C. Therefore, this allows perfect making of Gorgonzola as well as several other cheeses. In any case, the town of Gorgonzola remained the most famous place, although it was not the main production or trade centre for various centuries. In fact, the real Gorgonzola’s first name was “stracchino di Gorgonzola”, later better defined with the synonym “green stracchino”. In this context, this cheese was certainly produced with autumn milking when cows returned from mountain pastures.
Gorgonzola constantly spread in both Lombardy and Piedmont regions, though slowly if compared with other cheeses: Pavia and Novara joined Milan and Como areas in the production of Gorgonzola.
The area to be defined by the 1955 and 1977 Decrees was thus already operating as a production and maturing area of Gorgonzola cheese, whose designation was protected at that point.
Since the beginning of the 20th Century, the success of Gorgonzola cheese has been growing – especially abroad – with an export record of more than ten thousand tons per year to the UK, France, and Germany. British consumers prefer white, soft, slightly spicy Gorgonzola, whereas the French and Germans specifically order blue-veined, strong Gorgonzola, the so-called “two-curds cheese”.
Immediately after the Second World War, a new technique was implemented: “one-curd” processing. This new production system replaced the previous, empirical procedures, which were significantly more expensive as well as more hygienically and qualitatively inconsistent. Cheese factories and the many creameries spread all over the Po River Valley collect milk from farms and produce cheese, which is then transferred to the main maturing units. During the 1970s, the more than 100 cheese factories had to modernize their production plants and various small production units had to fold up, as they could not bear the costs. At present, approximately thirty well-structured large and medium-size companies process milk and mature gorgonzola cheese in their modern plants.
During the last few years, production confirms the shift in the production area. Of the three main production provinces, Novara accounts for more than 45% of production, Pavia 22%, and Milan 15%. The remaining quantity is produced in the other provinces of the typical production and maturing area defined by the designation protection laws.