+171. Gorgonzola+[74] is a rennet cheese made from fresh whole cow's milk, in northern Italy. It takes its name from the village of Gorgonzola, a few miles from Milan, but the manufacture of the cheese has spread over a wide area. The cheeses are made on farms and in factories from which they are transported for ripening to cool valleys of the Alps, principally near Lecco (Fig. 24). Boeggild introduced the making of a cheese after the Gorgonzola process into Denmark about 1885. This industry has been successful on a small scale since that time. Gorgonzola cheeses are about 30 cm. (12 inches) in diameter and 18 cm. (7 inches) thick and weigh 15 to 20 pounds. As exported they are usually heavily coated[75] with a mixture usually barite, tallow and lard colored with annatto or other cheese color. This coating prevents shrinkage or mold on the surface of the cheese in transit. When cut these cheeses vary greatly. All show marbling with mold (Roquefort mold). During their ripening they become very slimy at the surface. To open up air spaces for mold growth, this slime is scraped off and holes are punched into the cheeses. These holes are readily seen in the final product. Some show crumbly texture, well distributed mold, as in Roquefort, with flavor approaching that cheese; in others the texture is waxy rather than crumbly, a condition correlated regularly with different character in the flavor. Frequently in whole areas or in small pockets, slime consisting of bacteria and Oidium has followed the openings into the cheese and affects its odor and taste.