How Grana Padano cheese is made
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It all starts with unpasturised cow’s milk,

coming from local farms with well-defined, strictly regulated production processes, and from cows only milked twice a day with free access to an automatic milking system.

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Raw milk

The raw milk must be produced in the geographical area set in the Product Specifications. It is partially skimmed by natural surface skimming.

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Copper Cauldrons

1.000 litres of this partially skimmed milk is then placed inside traditional bell-shaped copper cooking cauldrons (or vats, Each cauldron produces two wheels of cheese, called “twin wheels”.

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Whey

Then the whey produced the day before is added. Full of lactic acid bacteria, whey is the perfect way to trigger the transformation of milk into cheese.

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Heat

Once the whey has been added, the milk is brought to a temperature of 31-33°C(88-91° F)

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Rennet

Once the whey has been added, the milk is brought to a temperature of 31-33°C (88-91° F) and the calf rennet is added.

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Breaking of the curd

The curd is then broken with a giant whisk (spino) into pieces which are as small as grains of rice

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Heating

The broken curd is then heated to a maximum temperature of 56° C (136° F). Once this temperature is reached, the cooking is completed, and the curd granules begin to settle at the bottom of the copper cauldron.

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Resting

The curd granules are left to rest in the copper cauldron, immersed in the whey, for a maximum of 70 minutes from the end of the heating phase, so that they aggregate, to form a compact mass.

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Lifting

Using a sort of a wooden shovel (pala) and a linen cloth (schiavino), the curd mass is raised from the bottom of the cauldron and cut into two equal parts, in order to create two twin wheels.

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Extraction

Each of the two wheels are removed from the copper cauldron, wrapped in linen cloths and placed on a shelf – the “spersola”.

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First molding

Each wheel is placed into a special mould, the fascera, made of suitable plastic material. A heavy object of the same material is then placed on top of the cheese to place pressure.

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Marks of origin

After about 12 hours, a piece of plastic (fascera) engraved with the Marks of Origins is inserted.

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Casein Plate

Then a casein plate, with a specific ID code is placed on the top face of the wheel, this is crucial when identifying the traceability of each wheel.

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Salting

Two days later, the process of salting (salatura) starts: the cheese wheels are soaked in brine, a solution of water and salt. This step can take from 12 to 25 days, depending on the saline solution and the size of the wheel.

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Drying

Once the salting is finished, the wheels are taken into a “hot room” (camera calda) where they will dry for a few hours.

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Ageing

Finally, the cheese wheels will be taken to a specific maturing warehouse, where they will be left to age for a minimum of 9 months.

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