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Cheese from Italy, Autonomous Province of Trento and five communes of the Province of Bolzano

Trentingrana (Grana Padano PDO, Trentino type)Trentingrana

Trentingrana is Grana Padano made in Trentino's alpine valleys from raw milk of cows fed without any silage all year. The milk is part-skimmed by natural creaming at 8–20 °C, set with a natural whey starter and calf rennet without lysozyme, cooked at up to 56 °C, moulded at least 36 hours and brined. It ripens at 15–22 °C for at least nine months.

Fully documentedCheese9.4 months – 9.9 monthsSpecific type of Grana Padano PDO (Grana Padano was registered by Regulation (EC) No 1107/96)Family: Grana Padano PDO

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification gives conditions, not doses. Lysozyme, allowed in other Grana Padano at up to 2.5 g per 100 kg of milk, is not allowed in Trentingrana. Wheels weigh 24–40 kg.
Raw cow milk from alpine-valley farms in Trentino, cows fed no silage of any kind all yearFrom one milking or more, partly skimmed by natural creaming[grana-disc][grana-eu2026]
Natural whey starter (siero innesto)[grana-disc][slowfood-trentingrana]
Calf rennet[grana-disc][grana-eu2026]
Salt, as brine[grana-disc]
Starternatural whey starter (siero innesto), from the previous day's cheesemaking

Total time across the recorded steps: 9.4 months – 9.9 months

Start
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8–20 °C

What changes: The raw milk rests while cream rises and is skimmed off

Step 1 of 6
Skim by natural creaming
Time
Not documented
Temperature
8–20 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacillus helveticus
L. casei

Raw milk is kept and carried at no less than 8 °C and is not heat-treated.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Trentingrana is Grana Padano made in Trentino's alpine valleys from raw milk of cows fed without any silage all year. The milk is part-skimmed by natural creaming at 8–20 °C, set with a natural whey starter and calf rennet without lysozyme, cooked at up to 56 °C, moulded at least 36 hours and brined. It ripens at 15–22 °C for at least nine months. Made in 6 steps over 9.4 months – 9.9 months. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 9 months (Consorzio per la tutela del formaggio Grana P…) and runs at 15–22 °C (Consorzio per la tutela del formaggio Grana P…). Native Lactobacillus helveticus, L. lactis or L. casei, which may be added to the whey starter up to twelve times a year if its acidity is too low does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 9 monthsSet[grana-disc]Ripen
Temperature15–22 °CSet[grana-disc]Ripen

What makes this one different

Grana Padano from Trentino's alpine valleys, made only with milk from cows fed no silage, without lysozyme and with a higher vat fat/casein ratio allowed (up to 1.15).

Milk
Raw milk from Trentino alpine-valley cows fed no silage all year; no lysozyme
Ripening
At least nine months, as for all Grana Padano; 'Riserva' after 20 months
Size
35–45 cm across, 18–25 cm high, 24–40 kg; at least 32 % fat in dry matter

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is raw. The curd is cooked at up to 56 °C and the wheels ripen at least nine months. The Trentingrana rules ban silage of any kind, and even its presence on the farm, because silage would bring in large numbers of clostridial spores; in long-ripened cheese these cause late blowing, a swelling defect with butyric acid and gas, which can make a wheel unsaleable.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Slow Food says the first grana in Trentino was made in 1925 by Michele Marchesi at the cooperative dairy of Rumo in the Non Valley, after he learned the method in Mirandola in the province of Mantua. By 1934 twelve dairies in the Non Valley made grana, and in 1973 the Trentingrana name was established together with a consortium of all the grana dairies of Trentino. The Edmund Mach Foundation says a decree of the President of the Republic gave Trentingrana its birth as a cheese and its rule against silage.

  1. [grana-disc] Consorzio per la tutela del formaggio Grana Padano, Disciplinare Grana Padano D.O.P. (2022 consolidated text), Articles 2, 4, 5 and the TRENTINGRANA typespec
  2. [grana-eu2026] Communication of approval of a standard amendment and single document, 'Grana Padano', Official Journal of the European Union C/2026/5199, 19.10.2026 (Publications Office copy)spec
  3. [fem-trentingrana2011] Pecile A. (ed.) 2011, Produrre latte da Trentingrana e formaggi a media e lunga stagionatura, Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all'Adige (written for Trentingrana - Consorzio dei Caseifici Sociali Trentini)book
  4. [slowfood-trentingrana] Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, Mountain Trentingrana (Slow Food Presidium page)web
  5. [reg-1107-96] Commission of the European Communities, Commission Regulation (EC) No 1107/96 of 12 June 1996 on the registration of geographical indications and designations of origin under the procedure laid down in Article 17 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92, Official Journal L 148, 21.6.1996, p. 1spec