Gorgeous Gorgonzola
Breaking down Italy's most famous blue cheese (and why you've probably never tasted the real thing)
Dear reader,
I recently turned in a report on Gorgonzola for my UniPd course, Quality, Processing and Sensorial Analysis of Italian Food, and I wanted to share a few of the highlights with you. Understanding the specificity of fine Italian food products—i.e., what makes them unique, noteworthy, and overall a cut above the rest—is essential in today’s world of generic and commercialized food slop (I’m speaking specifically about American supermarkets). Increased tariffs will worsen what is already a pitiful cheese section, forcing us to pay wild price premiums for artisanal, imported cheeses.
For those who don’t mind the “green shaker of unrefrigerated dust that America calls Parm,” this post is not for you.1
Cheese fraud
Exceptionally good cheese at an affordable price is a basic human right in Italy, and Gorgonzola is no exception. Gorgonzola is a PDO, or “protected designation of origin,” product in the EU. That means that there are specific regulations that guarantee its production standards and production zone. While the use of the Gorgonzola PDO name is strictly protected under Europe’s Geographical Indication system, the same is not true in the U.S., where PDO and PGI (protected geographic indication) products have to register for additional trademarks to avoid copycat products.
As the NYT noted in a recent article, Gorgonzola does not have an active trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office because the term is considered generic. Genericity is a catch-all legal category that means Gorgonzola in America can refer to any blue-veined cheese, even if it is not produced in Italy.2 Other Italian cheeses that are considered generic in the U.S. include parmesan, mozzarella, asiago, and fontina. So, if you’ve eaten something labeled “gorgonzola” from an American grocery store, or any of the other aforementioned cheeses, then you’ve likely never tasted the real thing. You’re missing out on the molten, gooey gorgeousness that is authentic Italian Gorgonzola.
Meet the Gorgonzolas
Gorgonzola is far from generic. It is one of the oldest blue cheeses to have come into existence, with its first written mention as early as 879 CE. Its historical home is the town of Gorgonzola, east of Milan, though some argue that its true place of origin is further north in the Alpine town of Valsassina. Today, the cheese must be produced in certain provinces of Lombardy and Piedmont to claim “PDO” status.
There are two types of Gorgonzola that can be legally produced: “dolce,” the sweet style, or “piccante,” the spicy style. Each has its own characteristics and use cases, but the “dolce” style is more widely appreciated and represents 90% of total production.
Gorgonzola “Dolce”: earthy, nutty, buttery, sweet, creamy, spreadable; ages for a minimum of 50 days
Gorgonzola “Piccante”: tangy, spicy, pungent, crumbly texture and more pronounced mold veining; ages for 85+ days
Gorgonzola "Dolce" (left); Gorgonzola Piccante (right). Images courtesy of Gorgonzola PDO, gorgonzola.com.
Both types of Italian Gorgonzola have a marked sapidity due to the dry salting of the cheese wheels during production. My favorite way to eat Gorgonzola “dolce” is spread over a crusty slice of baguette with a glass of something dry and bubbly. The best way to eat Gorgonzola “piccante”? On a classic quattro formaggio pizza.
Mold magic
So, why can’t Gorgonzola be produced in Wisconsin? A key factor here is its microbiological fingerprint of Italian Gorgonzola, which cannot be replicated outside of Italy. The specific strain of mold that is responsible for Gorgonzola’s signature blue veining (Penicillium roqueforti) influences the cheese’s ripening and consequent texture, aroma, and flavor.
Just as two siblings in a family can have wildly different personalities, two different strains of P. roqueforti produce wildly different cheeses. The strains that have adapted to the specific environment of northern Italy and have been selected for their qualitative traits for thousands of years are not the same as the commercial cultures of P. roqueforti that are used in the U.S. Commercial cultures are typically selected for their consistency and ease of production, not necessarily quality.
Due to Gorgonzola’s specifically adapted mold strains, it undergoes a more intensive milk protein breakdown during the aging period. Extensive proteolysis results in a considerably creamier texture when compared to other blue cheeses.3 Mold is also responsible for Gorgonzola’s complex aromatic and flavor profile, which results from the hydrolysis of cheese fats into free fatty acids. Microbial enzymes further breakdown these FFAs, yielding methyl ketones, which are the main volatile compounds responsible for the typical Gorgonzola aroma. Enzymes can be added to mimic these ripening effects, but they do not result in a cheese with nearly the same sensorial depth as Gorgonzola PDO.
Check out the spreadability in action from Gorgonzola PDO Consortium:
Gorgonzola: the next Birkin bag?
Gorgonzola plays an important role in Italian gastronomy. It ranks third after the giants Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano and represents 10% of Italian PDO cheese production.
Only around one-third of Gorgonzola production is exported, with the majority of the cheese being consumed within Italy, a figure that is likely to decrease with higher import tariffs.4 IGOR (“Industria Gorgonzola”), based in Novara, is by far the largest producer of Italian Gorgonzola, and its CEO was quoted in the recent NYT article stating that American products with Italian-sounding names now have the advantage to take over the market.5
Maybe you don’t mind being misled by packaging or having access to inferior cheeses; these are first-world problems, after all. But I can say with my full chest that good food should not be a luxury good. Everyone deserves a taste of the real Gorgonzola.
- Emma from La Nonna Vita
Stephen Colbert, Trump Jets Off To Watch Golf After Triggering Global Market Meltdown | No Tariffs On Russia, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, March 12, 2025, YouTube video, 4:32.
Ravi Bharwani, "Is It Gorgonzola Cheese? How Food Names Impact U.S. Trade," U.S. Food and Drug Administration, December 16, 2019, https://www.fda.gov/international-programs/global-perspective/it-gorgonzola-cheese-how-food-names-impact-us-trade.
L. Torri, R. Grazioli, S. Limbo, and G. Morini, "Relationship Between Sensory Attributes, (Dis)Liking and Volatile Organic Composition of Gorgonzola PDO Cheese," Foods 10, no. 11 (2021): 2791, https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10112791.
Italianfood.net, "Why Gorgonzola PDO is Much More Than a Blue Cheese," December 4, 2019, https://news.italianfood.net/2019/12/04/why-gorgonzola-pdo-is-much-more-than-a-blue-cheese/.
Emma Bubola, "A Shadow Hanging Over Europe: ‘A Taste of Italy’ from New Jersey," The New York Times, April 18, 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/world/europe/trump-tariffs-italy-cheese.html.
The cheese queen!!