Flavors of Italy

Born in the 12th century and developed in the Po plain, Grana Padano is a favorite cheese for flavoring pasta and risotto. It is, with Parmigiano Reggiano, the most-consumed AOP cheese in the world and a star product of Italian gastronomy.

According to historians, this almost millennium-old cheese was created in 1135 in the Cistercian Abbey of Chiraravalle, south of Milan, in order to preserve milk that was not immediately consumed.

Thus the monks developed a hard cheese that could keep for a long period. The more months that passed, the stronger the cheese's flavor, gaining it the name caseus vetus, or "old cheese." Over time it adopted the name of Grana, refering to the granular texture of the curd.