Gorgonzola facts for kids

Gorgonzola is a famous type of Italian blue cheese. It's known for its unique taste and blue-green veins. This cheese can be soft and buttery, or firm and crumbly. It often has a salty flavor with a special "bite" from the blue parts.

How Gorgonzola is Made

Gorgonzola cheese is mostly made in northern Italy, in areas like Piedmont and Lombardy. To make it, cheesemakers use fresh cow's milk. They add special starter bacteria and tiny mold spores. The main mold used is called Penicillium glaucum. Sometimes, another mold called Penicillium roqueforti (which is also used in Roquefort cheese) is added.

After mixing, the milk forms curds, and the liquid part, called whey, is removed. The cheese is then left to age in cool places.

The Blue Veins

During the aging process, cheesemakers quickly poke the cheese with metal rods. This creates small air channels inside. These channels help the mold spores grow into tiny threads called hyphae. These threads are what give Gorgonzola its special blue-green veins and unique flavor.

Gorgonzola usually ages for about three to four months. The longer it ages, the firmer the cheese becomes. There are two main types of Gorgonzola:

• Gorgonzola Dolce: This is also called Sweet Gorgonzola. It's usually softer and has a milder taste.
• Gorgonzola Piccante: This is also known as Mountain Gorgonzola. It's firmer and has a stronger, more intense flavor.

Special Italian Protection

Under Italian law, Gorgonzola has a special protection called Protected Geographical Status. In Italy, this is known as DOP. This means that real Gorgonzola can only be made in specific areas of Italy. These areas include provinces like Novara, Bergamo, Brescia, Como, Cremona, Cuneo, Lecco, Lodi, Milan, Pavia, Varese, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, and Vercelli. It can also be made in some towns near Casale Monferrato. This rule helps make sure that Gorgonzola is always made in the traditional way and keeps its high quality.

How to Enjoy Gorgonzola

Pizza Trieste with Gorgonzola and apples

Gorgonzola cheese can be enjoyed in many different ways!

• It's often melted into a creamy risotto dish right at the end of cooking.
• You can also serve it next to polenta, which is a dish made from cornmeal.
• Many people love pasta with Gorgonzola sauce. It usually goes well with short pasta shapes like penne, rigatoni, or mezze maniche, rather than long pasta like spaghetti.
• Gorgonzola is a popular topping for pizza.
• Sometimes, it's added to salads for an extra burst of flavor.
• When combined with other soft cheeses, it's a key ingredient in pizza ai quattro formaggi, which means "four-cheese pizza."

Images for kids

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  Gorgonzola pizza with bacon, onion and honey

See also

In Spanish: Gorgonzola para niños