The first time I went to an Italian restaurant here in North America I was intrigued by its colorful menu and the room decoration – empty pasta boxes all over the place, empty olive oil cans, hats and t-shirts hanging on the walls, road signs indicating the directions to Rome, to Venezia, to Napoli, and a gigantic Campari neon sign hanging over the bar. After a few minutes trying to decode the menu I decided to order a simple unpretentious spaghetti al sugo (spaghetti with tomato sauce) and a glass of the house red wine. My first surprise was the wine… – no comments. The second one was how fast the waiter brought me the spaghetti. The third and most remarkable surprise was how generously and continuously he grated parmesan cheese on top of my spaghetti. Just like if he was trying to make a cheese mountain. As I set in silence he stopped the sculpture, looked at me and asked: is that enough? At that moment I learned that waiters here in North America don’t stop grating cheese on your plate unless you say “thanks, that’s enough“. I tried some of that cheese with the tip of my fork. I tried it again. That was anything but a Parmigiano Reggiano or maybe a Grana Padano. I called the waiter and asked him “what cheese was that?”. He proudly answered “Its Italian parmesan! Would you like some more?” Conclusion: What in the USA and Canada is called “parmesan” is actually a cheap imitation of Parmigiano Reggiano. The only similarity is the 4 first letters “parm”.
In Italy one can find many wonderful cheeses. Each region is proud of their own cheeses and at the same time very respectful to the cheeses from other regions. Two of the most famous cheeses of the North of Italy are the Parmigiano Reggiano and the Grana Padano.
In Italy there are more than 50 different kinds of cheese that received the DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta – literally “Protected Designation of Origin”) or IGP (Indicazione Geografica Protetta – Indication of Geographic Protection) certifications. Among the most famous cheeses are the Grana Padano and the Parmigiano Reggiano. Both are excellent and well known Italian cheeses, but do you know the difference? Not only tourists get a bit confused when buying these cheeses in Italy or on their way back home, but also some Italians don’t quite know the differences. Basically a DOP Grana Padano is produced within a vast area that crosses the North of Italy all the way from Piemonte to Veneto. The DOP Parmigiano Reggiano, on the other hand, is produced in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna and the south part of Mantova, among the hills, mountains, flat lands, and the rivers Po and Reno.
The main differences start with the tastes of these two cheeses. The cows breeds, what they eat, how they are milked, amount of fat in the milk, and the ingredients for example are some of the factors that directly reflects on the taste of each one of these cheeses.
Another important difference is the aging. Grana Padano goes from 9 to 24 months (beyond 24 months it is called “Riserva“). The Parmigiano Reggiano, on the other hand, goes from 12 to 48 months (beyond 30 months is called “Stravecchio”).
7 main differences between Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano
1) The Parmigiano Reggiano is produced without any sort of additives – including natural additives. The Grana Padano uses Lisozima, a protein extracted from the white of chicken eggs. This protein controls the fermentation of clostridium tyrobutyricum (a bacterium that grows under anaerobic conditions and produces butyric acid, acetic acid and hydrogen gas as the major fermentation products from glucose and xylose).
2) The cows that produces the milk for the Parmigiano Reggiano are fed exclusively with fresh hay and herbs. Differently from the cows that produces the milk for the Grana Padano – which includes corn ensilage – no other sort of fermented or ensilaged food is allowed in the cow’s diet for Parmigiano Reggiano.
3) The Parmigiano Reggiano receives its first seal after 12 months of aging. This cheese can reach a much longer aging (24, 30 or even longer than 48 months). It is ready to be sold, however, only after 24 months. The Grana Padano receives its first seal after 9 months and on average its ready to be sold in 15 months. The regulations of the Grana Padano allows only two kinds of denomination: “Oltre 16 mesi” (older than 16 months) and “Riserva” (older than 20 months). In some rare cases one can find a Grana Padano that was aged for longer than 20 months.
4) The cheese makers of Parmigiano Reggiano have to follow much more strict regulations than Grana Padano. For example the cows have to be milked twice a day, only one batch of cheese a day is permitted, the milk can not be stored under 18C (64F). The regulations of the Grana Padano allows the producers to milk the cows either once or twice a day and the milk can be stored at 8C (46F). It is also possible to produce two batches of cheese a day. The milk used for the production of Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano must be Italian.
5) The producers of Parmigiano Reggiano can only use natural whey as a starter of the microbiologic process from one batch to another. The Grana Padano allows up to 12 times per year the introduction of laboratory isolated whey bacteria.
6) The production area of the Parmigiano Reggiano is much smaller and restricted. The Grana Padano, on the other hand, can be produced at any of the 33 areas that are located in Lombardia, Veneto, Piemonte, Emilia-Romagna e Trentino Alto Adige (including some limited areas of Trento and Bolzano).
7) 20% of Parmigiano Reggiano is produced on the mountains (so called DOP di Montagna) whereas the Grana Padano is equivalent to 2% only.
Summary: The Parmigiano Reggiano cheese makers have to follow much more strict regulations than the producers of Grana Padano. This does not translate in a better quality of cheese. Even the Grana Padano – when produced with milk from cows that were submitted to a natural diet and the cheeses were aged for a long time – can reach excellent levels of quality.
Sources: https://www.granapadano.it/en-ww/default.aspx https://www.parmigianoreggiano.com/
