Parma, Italia
23 settembre 2011
Today has been a Foodapalooza extravaganza. Max, our dear host, arranged for us to tour small facilities that produce 3 of the major exports (and most famous foods) of the region.
Marco was our driver. He grew up in Parma from age 5 (though he can't claim to be a native since his father came from Sicily and his mother from Umbria). He's an Italian/Spanish translator who lives part of the year in Parma, part in Spain, part in Columbia. He's a well-read and interesting man with terrific spoken English. Needless to say, the conversations along the ride were varied and fun.
We started our day at a small farm that makes Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Our guide was Chiara - the daughter-in-law of the proprietor and the 4th member of this intimate family cheese-making team.
I'm sure you can find info on the web about the whole process, so I won't try to re-create our lesson here. Suffice it to say that it is a hands-on, artisan process that is very labor intensive -- requiring an optimal mix of artistry, science, and dogged attention to detail.
Days start at 4am with the milk delivery (but don't be impressed with us. We didn't have to be there until 9).
Milk from last night and this morning are mixed and heated in deep, conical, steam-heated caldrons.
As curds start to form, the mixture is whisked and tested (by hand "feel") to make sure the curds are the right size and texture (smaller curds for harder cheeses).
After the curds settle and heat an hour or so longer, the plug of curds is wedged up from the bottom of the cauldron to start to drain and shape it.
It is a lot of hard work -- lifting and hauling and requires absolute syncronization between the master cheesemakers. (In this case, Chiara's husband, Atilla, and his father Bruno).
Each cauldron makes the start for 2 wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano. They make between 8 & 12 a day, depending on how much milk the cows are producing (less in the fall when they're nursing calves).
After draining, the balls of parmesean are wrapped in a cheese cloth and put into plastic molds -- the first step along the way to taking on their "wheel" shape. The wheels are turned and cloths changed every two hours for the first day.
The next morning, the wheels (with no cloths) are put into metal molds that create the convex side shape characteristic of Parmigiano Reggiano.
On the inner side of the metal mold is a plastic mold that imprints the wheel with the identifying markers of Parmigiano Reggiano, the dairy producing it, the date it was produced, and a space for the inspector's approval stamp later -- to guarantee that it is quality worthy of the claim to Parmigiano Reggiano.
After a couple of days in the metal molds, the wheels have dried enough to hold their shape and are floated in a salt bath for several weeks (eek! I forgot exactly how long -- and they're SUPER exact about these things....)
At a certain point, it leaves the salt bath and is stacked in a temperature-controlled room for the 18-24 months of aging. The cheeses are individually hand-washed (with water and cloths) every 15 days to make sure no mold grows on the wheel.
When the cheeses reach 15 months of aging, the inspector from the cheese collective comes to determine whether they're worthy of the label Parmigiano Reggiano. The inspector tests the cheeses, not by tasting (b/c breaking the thickened cheese "rind" would stop the enzymatic processes), but by tapping the wheel with a special hammer. The cheese's quality, at this point is judged by sound, not by taste.
If the cheese sounds right, the inspector presses the emblem of the collective into the thickening rind of the cheese that is now officially Parmigiano Reggiano. The cheese ages to its determined ripeness (usually 18-24 months) before being sold.
And of course -- they let us taste! 18-month Parm with honey; 24-month with aceto balsamico and dry local lambrusco (NOT that stuff from the 70's).
