Gorgonzola PDO Cheese

Gorgonzola is a soft, smooth, deliciously versatile cheese from Italy.

Legend has it that Gorgonzola was created a thousand years ago when a young cheesemaker left his curd and went off with a beautiful woman. When he returned the following morning he tried to cover up his absence by adding more curd on top of the previous batch. These two batches didn’t knit together very well and so cracks developed in the cheese which allowed air to penetrate. The result was a creamy, slightly blue, cheese with a rich, deep flavour.

Gorgonzola is protected by its PDO status which means that the cheeses have to be made in the Lombardy or Piedmont areas of Italy and must be made using pasteurised cows’ milk.

There are two types of Gorgonzola – Dolce (sweet) and Piccante (spicy) – ours is a dolce meaning it is extremely soft and creamy to the extent that when it is produced it is encircled with a wooden belt to prevent the cheese from collapsing into itself. It is too soft for us to cut and wrap like we do with all of our other cheeses and so we serve it by the spoon! We do this by scooping it out of its rind and serving it in pots.

We buy our Gorgonzola from a small, specialist Italian importer who only buys from producers she knows. Most of her purchases are sold through her market stall but she also buys some extra cheeses and salamis that she sends on to us.

Perfect spread on a warm slice of sourdough bread with a crunchy pear, coupled with a sweet Italian dessert wine such as a semi-sparkling Moscato d’Asti.