Gorgonzola

One of the earliest of all veined cheeses. Named after a village near Milan, it was introduced to the Po Valley in the 9th century, with the green-blue mold developing accidentally sometime around the 11th century. It is traditionally made with cow's milk, although it's sometimes made from a mixture of cow's and goat's milk.

Gorgonzola is likely an evolution of type of Cacio cheese that Ansperto da Biassono, the Archbishop of Milan, mentions in his testament of 881. There are many legends surrounding the distinctive veining of this cheese. One story has it that a cheese maker forgot his equipment and left the curds out all night long in the open air, finding them covered in mold the next morning. According to another story, Gorgonzola was initially an uncured and unveined cheese made by farmers who sold it at a market close to the town tavern. Those who did not have enough money to pay for their wine used to give the tavern keeper cheese as a substitute, and he accrued so many that they had to be stored in the cellar, where they ultimately developed a green mold.

Along with English Stilton and French Roquefort, Gorgonzola is considered one of the top three blue cheeses in the world, although the characteristic veining of the celebrated cheese is actually more green than blue. Originally, Gorgonzola was made through natural contact with spores of Penicillium glaucum in the air, causing blue striations of mold called erborinati (from a dialect word of Lombardy for "parsley"), and then aged in caves. Today, it's commercially produced by inserting steel or copper needles into the cheese, allowing in oxygen and the penetration of chemically made bacterium.

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