Grana Padano is not one of the best-known names in Italian cheese. Indeed, if we were to go out on the street and ask people to name what Italian cheeses come to mind, it wouldn’t be surprising if not many people even mentioned Grana Padano.

However, that’s not to say that Grana Padano isn’t a cheese worth checking out. Actually, Grana Padano would probably be better known if it wasn’t for the fact that it is somewhat overshadowed by Parmigiano Reggiano, otherwise known as Parmesan.

Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano are actually very similar cheeses and this makes Grana Padano a great cheese substitute for Parmesan.

A Parallel Starting Point

The beginnings of both Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano are in the stomachs of cows. This doesn’t sound so appetising, but the truth of the matter is that cheese is preserved milk, and milk comes into being as cows (or other lactating animals) process the food they are consuming.

Thus a big influence of the cheese produced is the type of cow the milk comes from, and what it has eaten. Cows involved in producing Grana Padano can be fed on both fresh grass and silage (that is grass that has been stored – particularly useful for wintertime production), where as in Parmigiano Reggiano natural animal feed is preffered.

Parmigiano Reggiano is also made in a much more restricted area which limits the amount of variation in fodder used to feed the cows involved, whereas Grana Padano is made in a much wider area and so there could be a wider difference in the diet of the cows that produce the milk that is then converted in Grana Padano.

A Spitting Image Process

Once the milk has been obtained, the actual method used to work it and result in cheese is, for both Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano, in essence, the same.  

The milk needs to be added to a cheese vat, heated with rennet and allowed to coagulate.

Next the curd produced is cut, cooked and eventually removed from the vat using a large cheese cloth. Enough curd is extracted to make two cheeses.

This curd is drained in a mould and then left to mature until the final product is ready.

In this method though, there can be some differences in the detail which affect the final cheese.

Counting Calories

Before the milk is placed in a vat for processing, it is left to stand. This allows the cream (the fatty part of the milk) to rise to the surface. This can then be skimmed off (hence the term skimmed milk!).

Cows are generally milked twice a day. For Grana Padano, milk from a morning and evening milking on the same day is skimmed and then used in cheese manufacture. However, for Parmigiano Reggiano milk from an evening milking is skimmed, but then mixed with the next morning’s full fat offering. This means that the basic ingredient of the cheese for Parmigiano Reggiano is fattier than that for Grana Padano.

The knock on effect is that Parmigiano Reggiano matures more slowly than Grana Padano as cheese aging has alot to do with how bacteria breakdown the fat, and the curd for Parmigiano Reggiano has a higher fat content to breakdown.

Other factors can also have a part to play in the development of the cheese, such as the rennet used, and conditions and precise length of maturing.

The Bottom Line

As is the case in most areas of life today, a lot of things at the end of the day come down to money. This is an area where Grana Padano has a certain advantage over Parmigiano Reggiano.

Grana Padano is a very widely produced cheese. In fact, of the Eu’s PDO cheeses (i.e. cheeses that have a special status due to the area and conditions of their manufacture being closely controlled) it is probably made in the highest quantity.

There exist statistics that show that Grana Padano is made throughout the PO river valley in Northern Italy, a large area. Here there are aroud 150 factories that churn out (no pun intended!) 4.5 million cheeses a year, about 30% of which are exported.

Taking into consideration that each of these cheeses is around 33-35 kg in weight, we can appreciate that we’re taking about a lot of cheese here!

For this reason, Grana Padano is a readily available cheese and usually reasonably priced. One more factor that reduces costs is that it is generally made in a standardised process in factories thus making possible this aformentioned high yield of cheese.

On the other hand, Parmigiano Reggiano is generally a more highly prized cheese and it’s production relies more on the expertise of the cheesemaker than an industrial process. This could obviously been seen as an advantage over Grana Padano, but when comparing the quality of the final product, both cheeses are strictly controlled.

So, for this reason, the lower price and easy availability mean that Grana Padano can be thought of as a good cheese substitute for Parmesan.

Final Remarks

Grana in Italian refers to the grainy nature of the final cheese product. Both Parmesan and Grana Padano belong to this category of cheese. It is a result of the long ageing process which gradually causes crystals to form in the body of the cheese.

The ripening of the cheese also produces a sweet, melt in the mouth flavour. In true Parmesan cheese the flavour is arguably more pronounced, but that of Grana Padano is not far off.

Ultimately, Grana Padano proves itself to be a worthy substitute for Parmesan. It is cheaper, has a very similar texture, behaves in much the same way, and is nutritious. The long maturation period results in the nutrients in it becoming concentrated and a big plus is that much of the lactose is fermented away, so people who are mildly lactose intolerant can at least theoretically enjoy it in small quantities. In it’s softer, only moderately matured form, Grana Padano can be enjoyed in it’s own, dipped in honey or with fruit. In it’s harder, aged form, it is an excellent grating cheese with many uses in flavouring and complimenting all sorts of dishes.