3 Cheese and other Dairy Products

Lombardy boasts a wide variety of cheeses. Much of the milk produced by the local cows is used for cheese, found on every table. There are few other Italian regions where dairy products – cheese, butter, cream – play such an important role in the local cuisine. The ultimate fat is butter, used for frying, flavouring and preserving and traditionally more common than oil. Cheese is another essential ingredient. A hard, grainy cheese which can be grated when aged for long enough, Grana is typical of the plains around the River Po. The protected denomination is Grana Padano. A grating completes every first course. Stracchino, meanwhile, makes a worthy conclusion to any self-respecting meal. Cream, used abundantly, binds ingredients together and gives softness and sweetness.