February 14, 2024 • 31 mins
This slightly aged, green-blue veined cheese is prized for its heckishly piquant flavor. Anney and Lauren dig into the science and history of gorgonzola.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to save our protection of iHeartRadio. I'm
Annie Reese.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I'm more in vogel Baum, and today we have
an episode for you about Gorgonzola, Yes.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Which you picked for a very funny reason.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yes, yes, so okay, So it's Valentine's Day. Hopefully as
this episode comes out. I don't know when you're listening
to it, because I'm not omniscient. But so I was
searching in vain for some kind of Valentine's themed episode
that we have not already covered, and I just didn't
(00:42):
like any of my options. And and I was like,
you know, what is heck and romantic? A stinky cheese Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yeah, it can be.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Certainly I would be smitten if someone made me a cheeseplate.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah. I mean, that's the way to win our hearts.
But I know that that doesn't work for everybody. And
that's the beauty of relationships.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Oh yeah, yeah. Each one is it is its own
What has Ben Bowland say? Each one is its own nation?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I don't know anyway. Each one is its own cheese plate,
its own cheese plate.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
There you go. Yes, I did recently have a cheese
night with some of my favorite gallantines. It's Galentine's Day, yes,
and I brought rocket for and look, I don't know,
(01:53):
I bought it and they were all kind of hesitant
about it. Okay, then it got eaten, that's all allesome. Well,
I didn't really hear much about it.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
All right, if I mean, but if they didn't leave
it on the plate. Yeah, but I either they were
trying to get rid of it or they were happy
about it.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah, I think they were happy about it. But you know,
these are how cheese nights go. They have to determine
what people, what cheeses they'll go they'll go for. And
this is why a cheese knight is so it can
be so romantic, are personal because you have to guess
(02:37):
what cheesus will be a hit.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Absolutely, yeah, yes, not on the subject of cheeses, but
on the subject of what you'll tolerate. I'm working without
a pop screen, without a pop filter on my microphone
right now because mine spectacularly died at the end of
last week.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
It just sort of exploded.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Don't worry, and a new one is arriving hypothetically tomorrow.
But I just really hope that my peas and other
noises are not extra grading on your ears today, good friends.
I'm glad that I chose a day when we're recording
two episodes to have this catastrophic pop filter failure.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, well, Corgan's all of us have any peas in it?
Not that you know of, Oh no, I can't wait
to find out. Yeah, so a pop filter for the
uninitiated is like a for your plosives, your hard sounds. Yeah,
I supposed to make them not so hard against your
(03:47):
your deer our dear listeners ears.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, apologies to y'all, and apologies to super producer Andrew
who has to deal as all the time because my
face is so gross on the inside.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Always. Well with that note, you can see our past
episodes on cheeses, perhaps Rocifer specifically. But yeah, it's a
stinky cheese.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's a stinky cheese, yeah, which I.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Guess brings us to our question. I guess it does. Yeah, sure,
all right. Gorgonzola what is it? Well?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Gorgonzola is a type of variably aged cow milk cheese
with green blue veins running through it. Depending on how
it's made, it can range from off white in color
and buttery soft in texture, with a sweet tangy, mildly
funky flavor to kind of straw yellow and crumbly, softish
(04:56):
and very earthy and salty and sharp and strong, like
sort of eye watering. It can be eaten on its
own with a crackers or bread and like fruits and honey,
as part of a cheese plate, or used as a
topping on savory dishes, or melted into sauces for a
pastas or meats or vege, or cooked into any kind
(05:16):
of savory baked good or casserole. It's a little bit
like if if like mid level hot peppers were creamy
and spreadable. It's like when you have to sneeze, you know,
like that feeling that's like right up in your eyeballs,
but in a tasty way.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
It.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I love I love this cheese. Let me okay, let me,
let me do the poetic thing, okay. Gorgan sola is
like when you visit a stable, follow with me here,
and then you walk out into an open pasture and
the sun is so hot, but the breeze is so
smooth on your skin. It's it's like eating that slightly
(05:59):
funky breeze.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I definitely purchase some. My Valentine's
Day celebration.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Oh my goodness, yeah, yeah, oh, I have a page
of recipes for you. The Gorgonzola Consortium has a really
great recipe page up. More on them later, all right. So,
so the term gorgonzola is in fact a protected designation
of origin in the European Union. In order to be
(06:36):
labeled gorgonzola, a cheese must be made from milk that
comes from and is processed in specific areas of Piedmont
and Lombardi, Italy using specific guidelines. About thirty to forty
factories currently make gorgonzola. But let's back up a second
and do cheese one on one. Yeah, all right, So
(06:57):
cheese is a way of preserving milk so that you
can eat it later. You do that by getting out
a bunch of the water in the milk, because microorganisms
that make things go bad need water just like us.
And then furthermore, by encouraging helpful microorganisms to grow that
will prevent illness causing organisms from growing.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
All right.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
As a bonus, a lot of those helpful microbes contribute
flavors that at least some of us humans enjoy. Okay,
to get a bunch of water out of milk. You
take milk and introduce something that will make the milk curdle,
which means that the fats and the proteins and stuff
that hang out with fats will separate out from the
water and the stuff that hangs out with water. To
(07:41):
get that started, you encourage friendly lactic acid bacteria to
grow in the milk. These are a category of bacteria
that eat some of the sugars in the milk and
excrete acid, which causes that separation. In the case of
gorgonzola and many cheeses, you further curdle the milk using rennet,
which is this animal protein that helps some baby grazing
(08:01):
mammals better digest their mother's milk by making it separate
in their stomachs. But anyway, so you drain the watery
part called the whay away, and then you take the
solids the curds, and that's cheese. You can further process
the cheese curds any number of ways to create all
kinds of different cheeses. Again, in the case of gorgonzola,
(08:21):
as that is our topic of the day, you take
whole milk from cows and pasteurize it, then add rennet,
some milk enzymes which help with coagulation, and some.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Helpful mold spores.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
More on those in a sec Once the curds form,
you break them up and place them in first draining tables.
Then these big wheel shaped molds to let a whole
lot of the whey drain off. You don't press them, though,
as you do with many cheeses that wind up being firmer.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
For a few days.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
These wheels are kept fairly warm and are salted on
all sides. This process is called purgatory or this stage.
This is the purgatory stage. I love that heck and Italy,
y'all are so cool. And then the wheels are moved
into deep refrigeration after about a month or so. There's
a period of a few days, sometimes a few times
(09:14):
over where the wheel will be struck through one side
at a time with these big hollow metal needles that
basically pull out like like core samples of cheese. And
this will allow for airflow through the wheel as it
continues to age, which helps those mold spores that we
added earlier to bloom and grow into the characteristic green
(09:36):
blue veins throughout the wheel. The specific type of mold
used is Penicillium glalcum, which helps prevent bacterial growth.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
It also eats.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Compounds in the cheese and thus changes the texture and
flavor of the final product mold pool. Yeah. There are
two primary category of gorgonzola dulce meaning sweet or mild,
which is aged between fifty and one hundred and fifty days,
(10:06):
and then pecante meaning spicy or pikeant, which is aged
between eighty and two hundred and seventy days. The longer
it goes, the further it develops its mold veining and
firmness and yellowish coloration and all of those kind of
funky sharp notes. The wheels are finally taken from their molds,
sometimes sliced in half and or into wedges, and then
(10:29):
wrapped in aluminum foil and stamped with the PDO, which
is a big old letter G. Though other dairies in
other places do make gorgonzola type cheeses. Yes, and yeah,
it can be used however you like to use cheese.
From what I understand, it's mostly considered a cooking cheese
in Italy. Right in, let me know, I feel like
(10:50):
I've mostly seen it in more straightforward applications in the
United States, like crumbled onto salads or pizzas, or as
part of a cheese board.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Yeah yeah, same write in I've got some ready to go.
Yeah yeah, yes, Well what about the nutrition.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
High in proteins and fats. Gorgonzola, like most cheeses, is
a nutrient dense food, which is sort of the whole point.
It can also be heavy on sodium that does have
a good smattering of various other macronutrients. You know, watch
your portion sizes, drink water, eat a vegetable.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Indeed, we doo have some numbers for you.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
We do, okay, So Gorgonzola is Italy's third most produced
pedo cheese by volume, after grana padano and Parmagano reggiano. Also,
one study that was looking into the palatability of different
varieties of gorgonzola identified fifty three voletile organic compounds coming
(12:02):
off of their cheeses. Volatile organic compounds being things what
smell yeah. An earlier study from the year two thousand,
I think, found that a specific alcohol called octanol or
mushroom alcohol, is a major marker of gorgonzola flavor. It's
(12:22):
also a main flavor component in mushrooms, hence its name.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Thanks yep.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Today, a certified Gorgonzola makers produce about fifty five and
a half metric tons.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Of cheese every year.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
That's a little bit over five million wheels of cheese,
about thirty six percent of which is exported. Of that
Germany and France by the most about half together. And
the sweet or mild dulce type is much more widely
produced and has been scientifically found to be preferred by
(12:57):
more consumers. Only into twelve percent of all gorgonzola is
the is the pecante pike it spicy type.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Huh yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
But the cheese is exported to some eighty seven countries.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
So wow. I love a good stinky cheese with a
fun name, right, Yes, and it does have quite the history.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
It does, and we are going to get into that
as soon as we get back from a quick break
forward from our sponsors. Ay, we're back, thanky sponsor, Yes,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
So again. As with our other cheese episodes, a lot
of cheeses probably were discovered somewhat accidentally and concurrently in
different places. There's a lot of stories you could find
about the cheese compared to this cheese and they sound
very similar, but they're happening in different places, so just
(14:07):
put that out there. That being said, Lombardi, Italy frequently
claims to be the home of Gorgonzola. Historically, Lombardi has
been a very fertile area for cows to graze, so
the cows would spend the summer up in the alpine
region and then during the winter they would migrate down south,
(14:28):
and during their migratory journeys, farmers milked the tired cows,
and this milk had a higher butterfat content and it
made it tastier.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Yeah, the cows were not making better milk because they
were tired, but rather because of that good grass and
you know, seasonal hormone fluctuations, et cetera. The cheese was
probably at the time called Strecino verde or perhaps astricino Gorgonzola.
Strecino comes from a word for tired and a more
(15:00):
generic term around Italy for young, aged, soft white cheeses.
Verde means green, referring to the veins. And of course,
Gorgonzola is a town outside of Milan, which is the
capital of the Lombardi region.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yes, oh, can't wait to look at my cheese after
this and see.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
What kind of oh oh I wanted it all about it?
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Yeah? Oh, absolutely well. As you know if you've listened
to the show, a lot of these cheeses have a
very fun but not at all verified, accidental discovery story,
some kind of mythology of the cheese. Yeah, exactly. The
mythology of the cheese is a good way to put it.
Gorgonzola is no different. One of the most popular stories
(15:49):
takes place in eight hundred and seventy nine CE in Lombardi,
Italy and goes zesely and I swear we have heard
this exact story before, yep, in another cheese. But as
it goes, a young man in love he chases the
woman of his dreams and therefore leaves behind his cheese
(16:09):
curds and a cave o dear, or perhaps was dumped
by her and was wallowing in Greece. Either way, he
forgot the kurds in the cave, so to cover up
his laps, he mixed in the fresh curds of the
morning with those that he had left behind, and a
(16:31):
few weeks later he noticed blue green veins running through
this cheese, and he and or his boss took a taste,
loved it, and there you go, Gorgan's old cheese. And
they started trying to replicate this tasty mistake. Yes, again,
(16:53):
a fun story for Valentine's Day. Oh absolutely, heartbreak and
or love. Not sure steaky cheese came out. So again,
with all of these cheese stories, this is not very
(17:13):
verified and there's a lot of other stories behind it.
So for a long time, most sources have put Gorgonzola's
origins in the ninth century in Italy, but some more
recent sources suggest that it may go back to southern
France when it was ruled by the Roman Empire. But
when I was reading through this, it seemed to be
more of an argument about Rockfort being essentially the same
(17:36):
as Gorganzola's. So don't yell at me. That just seems
to be what the argument is, where people are like,
they're kind of the same thing. So it originated. I
have put my hands up the back away.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I will say that that Rockefort is produced. I mean
certainly now that we have you know, isolated genetic strains
of these different mold species with a different species of
penicillium than Gorgonzola is. But I also put up my hands.
I don't I wasn't there, or at least not that
(18:13):
you can prove.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Ooh, Lauren comes in with the mold strains and then
some kind of teas that she might have been there.
I love it. Whoa. Other sources suggest that Gorgonzola was
(18:42):
a version of a cheese that was mentioned in the
will of Milan's archbishop from eighteen sixty eight to eighteen
eighty one, En Sperto de Bizano.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
And I tried to look into this because I am
fascinated by the idea of an archbishop of and like
specifically this guy who's really well known for helping build
out some of the cool old architecture in Milan having
cheese in his will alas a lac.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I could not find anything, I mean, cheese in the will.
That's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
He was also known for being like a pretty wild personality,
so I'm like, I don't know, maybe he did have
cheese in his will, More power to him.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
There's a lot of puns to be had cheese will,
I have to say. Well. Yet, others say that the
cheese originated in the dairy producing region of Valsassina in Italy,
and I apologize if I'm butchering that a big part
of this theory has to do with the natural caves
in that area that would be ideal for making gorgon sola,
(19:56):
and even other theories suggest that the cheese goes back
to an innkeeper in Gorgonzola who was trying to deter
heavy drinkers in his establishments and save money by giving
them cheese with these veins and them presumably cheese that
had gone bad. However, the cheese went well with the
(20:17):
wine that the drinkers were drinking and the plant backfired. Yeah,
so a lot of stories behind this cheese, but whatever
the case, it gradually spread throughout the Lombardi and Piedmont
regions of Italy. Eventually European aristocracy fell in love with
(20:38):
Gorgonzola during medieval times. By the nineteenth century, Gorgonzola was
sometimes mentioned along other beloved industrially produced cheeses. Some of
the first industrial, commercial gorgonzola factories started up towards the
end of the eighteen hundreds.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Yeah, and this was around the time that the name
Gorganzola started taking off. Because as this cheese spread pun
intended after the fact, folks started identifying it by you
know that specific production area.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yes, And by the twentieth century Gorgonzola went global.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
YEP, for example, was the only Italian cheese on the
menu on the Titanic in nineteen twelve. Peak Gorgonzola production
as a percentage of total Italian cheese production happened in
the nineteen thirties. It then accounted for some thirteen point
five percent of all Italian cheeses being made. By that point,
(21:39):
about sixty percent was being exported. Supposedly, Winston Churchill was
a fan, to the point that he specifically requested that
the Allies not bomb the town of Gorgonzola during their
attacks on the Axis.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
After World War Two ended and everyone was kind of
getting back on their feet again, there was in nineteen
fifty one this European Dairy Conference during which everyone kind
of agreed that it was a good idea to protect
the names and methods of making these economically important products.
Following that, in nineteen fifty five, Italy officially recognized the
(22:23):
traditional local creation of gorgonzola, along with Fontina Grana, Padano, Pecorino, Romano, Pecorino,
Siciliano and Parmigano reggiano. They also imposed more strict regulations
about production around these products. This actually seriously thinned the
field of gorgonzola producers. Within about ten years, the one
(22:45):
hundred sum dairies that had been making the cheese shranked
to about thirty. Further codifying this cheese. In nineteen seventy
a group of producers and other interested industry parties formed
the Consortium for the Protection of Gorgonzola CHI, which, with
authorization and supervision by the Italian government granted the following year,
(23:06):
still oversees the regulations for the making of gorgonzola. I
think that this consortium was the coming together of two
separate voluntary groups, one run by mostly small producers and
one by industrial producers with the Italian Dairy Association.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
So yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
In nineteen ninety six, Gorgonzola was granted that pedio status
by the European Commission. And in more recent years there's
been concern about climate change affecting milk production for gorgonzola,
and also about things like like conflicts around the globe
and American politics affecting trade routes and exports.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Again food. I feel like sometimes we forget it, but
it is so connected to all of these things, including
politics and climate change.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean when trade agreements go different
for different reasons, it can become very worrisome for people
who are just trying to sell cheese, you know.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yes, yeah, yeah, Well again, listeners, please let us know
if you have thoughts about this or I have some
how should I use it? Yeah, but I think that's
what we have to say about Gorgon Sola for now.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
I think it is. We do already have some listener
mail for you, though, and we are going to get
into that as soon as we get back from one
more quick break for a word from our sponsors, and
we're back.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you, and we're back with so. So,
there's this episode of SpongeBob where he has like horrible
breath and he doesn't realize why everybody is running away
(25:12):
from him. So that was the inspiration for this listener
mail schime. Thank you, it's a good episode. I believe you.
Kenna wrote, Hi, Annie and Lauren, just wrapping up your
sea urchin episode. Although I have never eaten a sea
(25:35):
urchin or given one a hat, I have worn a
live sea urchin as a hat. It was bestowed on
me by our tour guide while snorkeling in Hawaii. Finding
that we were all reasonably able to both float and
breathe at the same time, our guide decided we needed
to be impressed, spotted an urchin trundling along the seafloor
(25:58):
and dove down. The urchin was deposited on top of
my head, and I'm not sure which of us found
the experienced stranger. I had a spiny thing wandering my scalp,
and the sea urchin discovered the joys of becoming tangled
and human hair. We took the necessary photos and then
(26:19):
returned it to the brine. Glad. Nobody told me at
the time that they could be feminist. Wow, well that's amazing. Yes,
wow that sea urchin, I mean he flipped the expectations.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah, instead of looking for a hat, it became a hat.
I mean, really full circle for that guy, I think.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah, yeah, probably tell all his friends, he wouldn't believe it.
I've been telling everybody I can about this search and
hat thing. So thank you again, Lauren for.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Giving me that facts anytime, anytime.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
This also sounds love oh so good, a good time. Oh.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Matt wrote a longtime listener, first time caller here and
regrets if I'm overdue writing in. I have a tendency
to let your episodes pile up so I can savor
your wonderful banter in larger doses. Your mold Wine episode
was amazing, but was missing a very important fiery variation.
Oh I'm gonna I'm gonna give it a try, y'all
you yours zengen bowl fire tongs punch is a translation.
(27:41):
It's basically your garden variety mold wine as described in
the episode, but with the drippings from a zucker hut,
a totally not dangerous burning cone of sugar saturated in
one fifty one providing the requisite sweetness. My dearest German
friend introduced me to it while living in Boston. Of course,
it's ripe for variations, so when we celebrated the Game
(28:02):
of Thrones finale a few years ago, we fashioned a
zucker hut wall out of a pile of sugar cubes,
and spoiler alert, we said it on fire with Casper,
my roomy's chihuahua mix dressed as a dragon. Attached our
pictures of Casper, the zucker hut wall and a more typical.
Uh that word? Yeah, sure, drink of this kind. Aside,
(28:26):
I found Casper on the side of the road fifteen
years ago and he is still the same fire breathing
terror as the day we found him.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Ps.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Coincidentally, this was also the episode where you read the
listener mail for Pizzeles. The Italian side of my family
hails from northeastern Ohio as well, and we pronounce it
pete Zeale's. My parents got pizzele iron for their wedding
and I still crave them every year. Oh Casper, Oh Casper,
what a good dragon.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yeah, it was very cute. And this is like game
recognized game. Because I've tried to do this, like setting
fire of cocktails at most before, I've had varying levels
of success. Oh yeah, sometimes those fireproof glasses are not
(29:17):
so fireproof, is what I'll say.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Oh my goodness, heck yes.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
But I love this. This is definitely something I would
try to do. It looks like you had a great
time and you got some great mold wine out of it. Yeah. Yeah,
you didn't have any explosions.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Not that you mentioned anyway. So yeah, perfect, Oh gosh,
that's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
I do I do love. I do love live fire
in a cocktail. That's that's great. Mm hmmm, I had,
I bought a whole bottle of one, and I did
a lot of experiments somewhere since us. So we're not
but this sounds like you had a great time. And yes,
Casper was very adorable, so thank you. Yes, I'm glad
(30:13):
it worked out of Also, I continue to love these
Pete Sellers Betzellers notes conversations. They're great, so thank you.
Mm hmm oh my goodness. Absolutely yes, and thanks to
(30:33):
both of these listeners for taking the time to write in.
If you would like to write to us, you can.
Our email is hello at savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Oh, we're also on social media. You can find us
on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at save pod and we
do have to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Savor is production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers
Dylan Fagan and Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and
we hope that lots more good things are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to save our protection of iHeartRadio. I'm
Annie Reese.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I'm more in vogel Baum, and today we have
an episode for you about Gorgonzola, Yes.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Which you picked for a very funny reason.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yes, yes, so okay, So it's Valentine's Day. Hopefully as
this episode comes out. I don't know when you're listening
to it, because I'm not omniscient. But so I was
searching in vain for some kind of Valentine's themed episode
that we have not already covered, and I just didn't
(00:42):
like any of my options. And and I was like,
you know, what is heck and romantic? A stinky cheese Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yeah, it can be.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Certainly I would be smitten if someone made me a cheeseplate.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah. I mean, that's the way to win our hearts.
But I know that that doesn't work for everybody. And
that's the beauty of relationships.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Oh yeah, yeah. Each one is it is its own
What has Ben Bowland say? Each one is its own nation?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I don't know anyway. Each one is its own cheese plate,
its own cheese plate.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
There you go. Yes, I did recently have a cheese
night with some of my favorite gallantines. It's Galentine's Day, yes,
and I brought rocket for and look, I don't know,
(01:53):
I bought it and they were all kind of hesitant
about it. Okay, then it got eaten, that's all allesome. Well,
I didn't really hear much about it.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
All right, if I mean, but if they didn't leave
it on the plate. Yeah, but I either they were
trying to get rid of it or they were happy
about it.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah, I think they were happy about it. But you know,
these are how cheese nights go. They have to determine
what people, what cheeses they'll go they'll go for. And
this is why a cheese knight is so it can
be so romantic, are personal because you have to guess
(02:37):
what cheesus will be a hit.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Absolutely, yeah, yes, not on the subject of cheeses, but
on the subject of what you'll tolerate. I'm working without
a pop screen, without a pop filter on my microphone
right now because mine spectacularly died at the end of
last week.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
It just sort of exploded.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Don't worry, and a new one is arriving hypothetically tomorrow.
But I just really hope that my peas and other
noises are not extra grading on your ears today, good friends.
I'm glad that I chose a day when we're recording
two episodes to have this catastrophic pop filter failure.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, well, Corgan's all of us have any peas in it?
Not that you know of, Oh no, I can't wait
to find out. Yeah, so a pop filter for the
uninitiated is like a for your plosives, your hard sounds. Yeah,
I supposed to make them not so hard against your
(03:47):
your deer our dear listeners ears.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, apologies to y'all, and apologies to super producer Andrew
who has to deal as all the time because my
face is so gross on the inside.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Always. Well with that note, you can see our past
episodes on cheeses, perhaps Rocifer specifically. But yeah, it's a
stinky cheese.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's a stinky cheese, yeah, which I.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Guess brings us to our question. I guess it does. Yeah, sure,
all right. Gorgonzola what is it? Well?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Gorgonzola is a type of variably aged cow milk cheese
with green blue veins running through it. Depending on how
it's made, it can range from off white in color
and buttery soft in texture, with a sweet tangy, mildly
funky flavor to kind of straw yellow and crumbly, softish
(04:56):
and very earthy and salty and sharp and strong, like
sort of eye watering. It can be eaten on its
own with a crackers or bread and like fruits and honey,
as part of a cheese plate, or used as a
topping on savory dishes, or melted into sauces for a
pastas or meats or vege, or cooked into any kind
(05:16):
of savory baked good or casserole. It's a little bit
like if if like mid level hot peppers were creamy
and spreadable. It's like when you have to sneeze, you know,
like that feeling that's like right up in your eyeballs,
but in a tasty way.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
It.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I love I love this cheese. Let me okay, let me,
let me do the poetic thing, okay. Gorgan sola is
like when you visit a stable, follow with me here,
and then you walk out into an open pasture and
the sun is so hot, but the breeze is so
smooth on your skin. It's it's like eating that slightly
(05:59):
funky breeze.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I definitely purchase some. My Valentine's
Day celebration.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Oh my goodness, yeah, yeah, oh, I have a page
of recipes for you. The Gorgonzola Consortium has a really
great recipe page up. More on them later, all right. So,
so the term gorgonzola is in fact a protected designation
of origin in the European Union. In order to be
(06:36):
labeled gorgonzola, a cheese must be made from milk that
comes from and is processed in specific areas of Piedmont
and Lombardi, Italy using specific guidelines. About thirty to forty
factories currently make gorgonzola. But let's back up a second
and do cheese one on one. Yeah, all right, So
(06:57):
cheese is a way of preserving milk so that you
can eat it later. You do that by getting out
a bunch of the water in the milk, because microorganisms
that make things go bad need water just like us.
And then furthermore, by encouraging helpful microorganisms to grow that
will prevent illness causing organisms from growing.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
All right.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
As a bonus, a lot of those helpful microbes contribute
flavors that at least some of us humans enjoy. Okay,
to get a bunch of water out of milk. You
take milk and introduce something that will make the milk curdle,
which means that the fats and the proteins and stuff
that hang out with fats will separate out from the
water and the stuff that hangs out with water. To
(07:41):
get that started, you encourage friendly lactic acid bacteria to
grow in the milk. These are a category of bacteria
that eat some of the sugars in the milk and
excrete acid, which causes that separation. In the case of
gorgonzola and many cheeses, you further curdle the milk using rennet,
which is this animal protein that helps some baby grazing
(08:01):
mammals better digest their mother's milk by making it separate
in their stomachs. But anyway, so you drain the watery
part called the whay away, and then you take the
solids the curds, and that's cheese. You can further process
the cheese curds any number of ways to create all
kinds of different cheeses. Again, in the case of gorgonzola,
(08:21):
as that is our topic of the day, you take
whole milk from cows and pasteurize it, then add rennet,
some milk enzymes which help with coagulation, and some.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Helpful mold spores.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
More on those in a sec Once the curds form,
you break them up and place them in first draining tables.
Then these big wheel shaped molds to let a whole
lot of the whey drain off. You don't press them, though,
as you do with many cheeses that wind up being firmer.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
For a few days.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
These wheels are kept fairly warm and are salted on
all sides. This process is called purgatory or this stage.
This is the purgatory stage. I love that heck and Italy,
y'all are so cool. And then the wheels are moved
into deep refrigeration after about a month or so. There's
a period of a few days, sometimes a few times
(09:14):
over where the wheel will be struck through one side
at a time with these big hollow metal needles that
basically pull out like like core samples of cheese. And
this will allow for airflow through the wheel as it
continues to age, which helps those mold spores that we
added earlier to bloom and grow into the characteristic green
(09:36):
blue veins throughout the wheel. The specific type of mold
used is Penicillium glalcum, which helps prevent bacterial growth.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
It also eats.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Compounds in the cheese and thus changes the texture and
flavor of the final product mold pool. Yeah. There are
two primary category of gorgonzola dulce meaning sweet or mild,
which is aged between fifty and one hundred and fifty days,
(10:06):
and then pecante meaning spicy or pikeant, which is aged
between eighty and two hundred and seventy days. The longer
it goes, the further it develops its mold veining and
firmness and yellowish coloration and all of those kind of
funky sharp notes. The wheels are finally taken from their molds,
sometimes sliced in half and or into wedges, and then
(10:29):
wrapped in aluminum foil and stamped with the PDO, which
is a big old letter G. Though other dairies in
other places do make gorgonzola type cheeses. Yes, and yeah,
it can be used however you like to use cheese.
From what I understand, it's mostly considered a cooking cheese
in Italy. Right in, let me know, I feel like
(10:50):
I've mostly seen it in more straightforward applications in the
United States, like crumbled onto salads or pizzas, or as
part of a cheese board.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Yeah yeah, same write in I've got some ready to go.
Yeah yeah, yes, Well what about the nutrition.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
High in proteins and fats. Gorgonzola, like most cheeses, is
a nutrient dense food, which is sort of the whole point.
It can also be heavy on sodium that does have
a good smattering of various other macronutrients. You know, watch
your portion sizes, drink water, eat a vegetable.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Indeed, we doo have some numbers for you.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
We do, okay, So Gorgonzola is Italy's third most produced
pedo cheese by volume, after grana padano and Parmagano reggiano. Also,
one study that was looking into the palatability of different
varieties of gorgonzola identified fifty three voletile organic compounds coming
(12:02):
off of their cheeses. Volatile organic compounds being things what
smell yeah. An earlier study from the year two thousand,
I think, found that a specific alcohol called octanol or
mushroom alcohol, is a major marker of gorgonzola flavor. It's
(12:22):
also a main flavor component in mushrooms, hence its name.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Thanks yep.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Today, a certified Gorgonzola makers produce about fifty five and
a half metric tons.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Of cheese every year.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
That's a little bit over five million wheels of cheese,
about thirty six percent of which is exported. Of that
Germany and France by the most about half together. And
the sweet or mild dulce type is much more widely
produced and has been scientifically found to be preferred by
(12:57):
more consumers. Only into twelve percent of all gorgonzola is
the is the pecante pike it spicy type.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Huh yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
But the cheese is exported to some eighty seven countries.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
So wow. I love a good stinky cheese with a
fun name, right, Yes, and it does have quite the history.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
It does, and we are going to get into that
as soon as we get back from a quick break
forward from our sponsors. Ay, we're back, thanky sponsor, Yes,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
So again. As with our other cheese episodes, a lot
of cheeses probably were discovered somewhat accidentally and concurrently in
different places. There's a lot of stories you could find
about the cheese compared to this cheese and they sound
very similar, but they're happening in different places, so just
(14:07):
put that out there. That being said, Lombardi, Italy frequently
claims to be the home of Gorgonzola. Historically, Lombardi has
been a very fertile area for cows to graze, so
the cows would spend the summer up in the alpine
region and then during the winter they would migrate down south,
(14:28):
and during their migratory journeys, farmers milked the tired cows,
and this milk had a higher butterfat content and it
made it tastier.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Yeah, the cows were not making better milk because they
were tired, but rather because of that good grass and
you know, seasonal hormone fluctuations, et cetera. The cheese was
probably at the time called Strecino verde or perhaps astricino Gorgonzola.
Strecino comes from a word for tired and a more
(15:00):
generic term around Italy for young, aged, soft white cheeses.
Verde means green, referring to the veins. And of course,
Gorgonzola is a town outside of Milan, which is the
capital of the Lombardi region.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yes, oh, can't wait to look at my cheese after
this and see.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
What kind of oh oh I wanted it all about it?
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Yeah? Oh, absolutely well. As you know if you've listened
to the show, a lot of these cheeses have a
very fun but not at all verified, accidental discovery story,
some kind of mythology of the cheese. Yeah, exactly. The
mythology of the cheese is a good way to put it.
Gorgonzola is no different. One of the most popular stories
(15:49):
takes place in eight hundred and seventy nine CE in Lombardi,
Italy and goes zesely and I swear we have heard
this exact story before, yep, in another cheese. But as
it goes, a young man in love he chases the
woman of his dreams and therefore leaves behind his cheese
(16:09):
curds and a cave o dear, or perhaps was dumped
by her and was wallowing in Greece. Either way, he
forgot the kurds in the cave, so to cover up
his laps, he mixed in the fresh curds of the
morning with those that he had left behind, and a
(16:31):
few weeks later he noticed blue green veins running through
this cheese, and he and or his boss took a taste,
loved it, and there you go, Gorgan's old cheese. And
they started trying to replicate this tasty mistake. Yes, again,
(16:53):
a fun story for Valentine's Day. Oh absolutely, heartbreak and
or love. Not sure steaky cheese came out. So again,
with all of these cheese stories, this is not very
(17:13):
verified and there's a lot of other stories behind it.
So for a long time, most sources have put Gorgonzola's
origins in the ninth century in Italy, but some more
recent sources suggest that it may go back to southern
France when it was ruled by the Roman Empire. But
when I was reading through this, it seemed to be
more of an argument about Rockfort being essentially the same
(17:36):
as Gorganzola's. So don't yell at me. That just seems
to be what the argument is, where people are like,
they're kind of the same thing. So it originated. I
have put my hands up the back away.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I will say that that Rockefort is produced. I mean
certainly now that we have you know, isolated genetic strains
of these different mold species with a different species of
penicillium than Gorgonzola is. But I also put up my hands.
I don't I wasn't there, or at least not that
(18:13):
you can prove.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Ooh, Lauren comes in with the mold strains and then
some kind of teas that she might have been there.
I love it. Whoa. Other sources suggest that Gorgonzola was
(18:42):
a version of a cheese that was mentioned in the
will of Milan's archbishop from eighteen sixty eight to eighteen
eighty one, En Sperto de Bizano.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
And I tried to look into this because I am
fascinated by the idea of an archbishop of and like
specifically this guy who's really well known for helping build
out some of the cool old architecture in Milan having
cheese in his will alas a lac.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I could not find anything, I mean, cheese in the will.
That's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
He was also known for being like a pretty wild personality,
so I'm like, I don't know, maybe he did have
cheese in his will, More power to him.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
There's a lot of puns to be had cheese will,
I have to say. Well. Yet, others say that the
cheese originated in the dairy producing region of Valsassina in Italy,
and I apologize if I'm butchering that a big part
of this theory has to do with the natural caves
in that area that would be ideal for making gorgon sola,
(19:56):
and even other theories suggest that the cheese goes back
to an innkeeper in Gorgonzola who was trying to deter
heavy drinkers in his establishments and save money by giving
them cheese with these veins and them presumably cheese that
had gone bad. However, the cheese went well with the
(20:17):
wine that the drinkers were drinking and the plant backfired. Yeah,
so a lot of stories behind this cheese, but whatever
the case, it gradually spread throughout the Lombardi and Piedmont
regions of Italy. Eventually European aristocracy fell in love with
(20:38):
Gorgonzola during medieval times. By the nineteenth century, Gorgonzola was
sometimes mentioned along other beloved industrially produced cheeses. Some of
the first industrial, commercial gorgonzola factories started up towards the
end of the eighteen hundreds.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Yeah, and this was around the time that the name
Gorganzola started taking off. Because as this cheese spread pun
intended after the fact, folks started identifying it by you
know that specific production area.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yes, And by the twentieth century Gorgonzola went global.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
YEP, for example, was the only Italian cheese on the
menu on the Titanic in nineteen twelve. Peak Gorgonzola production
as a percentage of total Italian cheese production happened in
the nineteen thirties. It then accounted for some thirteen point
five percent of all Italian cheeses being made. By that point,
(21:39):
about sixty percent was being exported. Supposedly, Winston Churchill was
a fan, to the point that he specifically requested that
the Allies not bomb the town of Gorgonzola during their
attacks on the Axis.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
After World War Two ended and everyone was kind of
getting back on their feet again, there was in nineteen
fifty one this European Dairy Conference during which everyone kind
of agreed that it was a good idea to protect
the names and methods of making these economically important products.
Following that, in nineteen fifty five, Italy officially recognized the
(22:23):
traditional local creation of gorgonzola, along with Fontina Grana, Padano, Pecorino, Romano, Pecorino,
Siciliano and Parmigano reggiano. They also imposed more strict regulations
about production around these products. This actually seriously thinned the
field of gorgonzola producers. Within about ten years, the one
(22:45):
hundred sum dairies that had been making the cheese shranked
to about thirty. Further codifying this cheese. In nineteen seventy
a group of producers and other interested industry parties formed
the Consortium for the Protection of Gorgonzola CHI, which, with
authorization and supervision by the Italian government granted the following year,
(23:06):
still oversees the regulations for the making of gorgonzola. I
think that this consortium was the coming together of two
separate voluntary groups, one run by mostly small producers and
one by industrial producers with the Italian Dairy Association.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
So yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
In nineteen ninety six, Gorgonzola was granted that pedio status
by the European Commission. And in more recent years there's
been concern about climate change affecting milk production for gorgonzola,
and also about things like like conflicts around the globe
and American politics affecting trade routes and exports.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Again food. I feel like sometimes we forget it, but
it is so connected to all of these things, including
politics and climate change.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean when trade agreements go different
for different reasons, it can become very worrisome for people
who are just trying to sell cheese, you know.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yes, yeah, yeah, Well again, listeners, please let us know
if you have thoughts about this or I have some
how should I use it? Yeah, but I think that's
what we have to say about Gorgon Sola for now.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
I think it is. We do already have some listener
mail for you, though, and we are going to get
into that as soon as we get back from one
more quick break for a word from our sponsors, and
we're back.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you, and we're back with so. So,
there's this episode of SpongeBob where he has like horrible
breath and he doesn't realize why everybody is running away
(25:12):
from him. So that was the inspiration for this listener
mail schime. Thank you, it's a good episode. I believe you.
Kenna wrote, Hi, Annie and Lauren, just wrapping up your
sea urchin episode. Although I have never eaten a sea
(25:35):
urchin or given one a hat, I have worn a
live sea urchin as a hat. It was bestowed on
me by our tour guide while snorkeling in Hawaii. Finding
that we were all reasonably able to both float and
breathe at the same time, our guide decided we needed
to be impressed, spotted an urchin trundling along the seafloor
(25:58):
and dove down. The urchin was deposited on top of
my head, and I'm not sure which of us found
the experienced stranger. I had a spiny thing wandering my scalp,
and the sea urchin discovered the joys of becoming tangled
and human hair. We took the necessary photos and then
(26:19):
returned it to the brine. Glad. Nobody told me at
the time that they could be feminist. Wow, well that's amazing. Yes,
wow that sea urchin, I mean he flipped the expectations.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah, instead of looking for a hat, it became a hat.
I mean, really full circle for that guy, I think.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah, yeah, probably tell all his friends, he wouldn't believe it.
I've been telling everybody I can about this search and
hat thing. So thank you again, Lauren for.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Giving me that facts anytime, anytime.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
This also sounds love oh so good, a good time. Oh.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Matt wrote a longtime listener, first time caller here and
regrets if I'm overdue writing in. I have a tendency
to let your episodes pile up so I can savor
your wonderful banter in larger doses. Your mold Wine episode
was amazing, but was missing a very important fiery variation.
Oh I'm gonna I'm gonna give it a try, y'all
you yours zengen bowl fire tongs punch is a translation.
(27:41):
It's basically your garden variety mold wine as described in
the episode, but with the drippings from a zucker hut,
a totally not dangerous burning cone of sugar saturated in
one fifty one providing the requisite sweetness. My dearest German
friend introduced me to it while living in Boston. Of course,
it's ripe for variations, so when we celebrated the Game
(28:02):
of Thrones finale a few years ago, we fashioned a
zucker hut wall out of a pile of sugar cubes,
and spoiler alert, we said it on fire with Casper,
my roomy's chihuahua mix dressed as a dragon. Attached our
pictures of Casper, the zucker hut wall and a more typical.
Uh that word? Yeah, sure, drink of this kind. Aside,
(28:26):
I found Casper on the side of the road fifteen
years ago and he is still the same fire breathing
terror as the day we found him.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Ps.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Coincidentally, this was also the episode where you read the
listener mail for Pizzeles. The Italian side of my family
hails from northeastern Ohio as well, and we pronounce it
pete Zeale's. My parents got pizzele iron for their wedding
and I still crave them every year. Oh Casper, Oh Casper,
what a good dragon.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yeah, it was very cute. And this is like game
recognized game. Because I've tried to do this, like setting
fire of cocktails at most before, I've had varying levels
of success. Oh yeah, sometimes those fireproof glasses are not
(29:17):
so fireproof, is what I'll say.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Oh my goodness, heck yes.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
But I love this. This is definitely something I would
try to do. It looks like you had a great
time and you got some great mold wine out of it. Yeah. Yeah,
you didn't have any explosions.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Not that you mentioned anyway. So yeah, perfect, Oh gosh,
that's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
I do I do love. I do love live fire
in a cocktail. That's that's great. Mm hmmm, I had,
I bought a whole bottle of one, and I did
a lot of experiments somewhere since us. So we're not
but this sounds like you had a great time. And yes,
Casper was very adorable, so thank you. Yes, I'm glad
(30:13):
it worked out of Also, I continue to love these
Pete Sellers Betzellers notes conversations. They're great, so thank you.
Mm hmm oh my goodness. Absolutely yes, and thanks to
(30:33):
both of these listeners for taking the time to write in.
If you would like to write to us, you can.
Our email is hello at savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Oh, we're also on social media. You can find us
on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at save pod and we
do have to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Savor is production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers
Dylan Fagan and Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and
we hope that lots more good things are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Dylan Fagan
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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