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Grana padano PDO: history
The origin of Grana Padano PDO is identified as being the area of lower Lombardy, between the Po and Milan, bordered on the west by Ticino and on the east by the Adda River, its heart being between Codogno and Lodi.
Grana Padano PDO's date of birth has been set in 1135, the year of the foundation of the Abbey of Chiaravalle: the Cistercian monks encouraged agriculture and the economic, and social recovery of the area. The monks initially reclaimed the lands, working hard at the reclamation and deforestation of the territory. The fertile lands that were brought to light then permitted the development of fervent agricolture and the abbundance of meadowlands favoured the breeding of cattle and sheep. Soon the quantity of milk produced exceeded daily needs so it was necessary to find a way in which to make it keep. The solution came once again from the monasteries.
This led to the development of a hard-bodied cheese that even if aged maintained all the nutritional qualities of milk and its taste and intensity even improved with age. At the end of the XII century the sale of this so-called formaggio di grana (granular cheese) was already well established at fairs and markets in the vicinity of monastery walls, but also in the city centres.
Shortly thereafter, this aged cheese became available also in centres far away from the lands of the Po. It was called by different names, depending on its origin: Lodesano, Piasentino, Melanese, although of "identical shape and substance".
At the end of the nineteenth century the cheesemaking industry was flourishing. After the Italian unification the production area had increased and, especially in Lombardy, large Dairies were established that were able to work hundreds of liters of milk every day. In the early twentieth century, in Emilia there was still the production of grana for use as reggiano or parmigiano, which developed in parallel to the grana from Lombardy, its production centered around Reggio Emilia and Parma.
After the second world war farms and cheesemaking industries continued to grow with a move toward the specific specialisation of animals for the production of milk which led to the need to seek new solutions for foods.
On 1 June 1951, the Stresa Convention established the birth of Grana Padano Parmigiano Reggiano.
Source: www.granapadano.com
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