A Lesson on Parmigiano Reggiano: Day 1

after 6 weeks of summer vacation, what better way to re-introduce ourselves into school mode than with two days of learning about a local specialty and international favourite, parmigiano reggiano. after some early morning squeals of welcome back hugs and kisses and catching up on the bus, we went to the parmigiano reggiano consorzio who deal with all the farmers and dairies, press, branding, legal issues, and quality controls to act as guarantee for both producers and consumers.

some facts about parmigiano reggiano from the consorzio:

cheese that does not meet the consorzio's quality controls can be discovered early on and sold under names like "young parmesan" or "table parmesan"___24-26 months (or older) is usually the best matured-aged cheese as the aroma develops with age, the second choice is parmigiano mezzano - 12-18 month aged cheese sold as fresh cheese, and the third is just "cheese" and sold to factories___a fee of E2500 is required to enter the consorzio and then must accept/follow all quality controls, allow inspections and meet the standards. on top of that, they must pay E6 per wheel of cheese produced___in the 16thC the word "parmigiano" was found in a French dictionary___imitation of the cheese started in the 20's and 30's with immigrants who tried to imitate the cheese abroad using local resources___the name "parmigiano reggiano" dates to the 1930's and in 1934 the consorzio was founded___the brand is registered in 57 countries outside of Europe but it is still difficult to uphold as every country has its own labeling rules___parmigiano is a raw milk, unpasteurized product (ok in the USA b/c the minimum for raw milk is 60 days and p.r. must be matured for at least 12 months)___Thomas Jefferson was the first US importer who discovered it and fell in love with it in Paris and set agents over to Italy to try to steal the recipe, unsuccessfully___parmigiano reggiano was the first cheese in space___it is lactose free after 2 years of maturation___2.8 million wheels of cheese are produced every year from about 450 dairies___big dairy farms produce about 100 a day but the average is 30-40___it is produced year round___75% of feed must come from hay in the area of production, some of it contains cereals, but no animal flour, sugar, onions or anything that changes the milk flavour is allowed - not even too much grass

we then went to lunch where everything included parmesan. to start:

warm parmigiano bread. surprisingly delicious and soft given that all the bread in the area is hard and crusty enough to possibly kill someone if thrown at them.

then we were served a plate with half a courgette topped with sausage and melted parmigiano; a spinach and parmigiano quiche baked in a bread cup; salad with pear, red grapes, parmigiano shavings with a honey-based dressing; and a chunk of parmigiano reggiano cheese with balsamic glaze and sweet red onions.

then the second plate included two different types of pasta:

the typical pasta of emilia romagna stuffed with ricotta and spinach and grated parmigiano and

 tagliatelli with a creamy parmigiano sauce and a sweet crema de lambrusco.

 then for dessert, we had a cocktail glass filled with eggy-fruity-parmigianoey zabaglione and biscuits.

after a heavy cheesey lunch, we sauntered over to Montecoppa diary farm where we were greeted by Fabio, a former UNISG tutor. within the forest that used to be owned by Napolean's wife, Maria Luiga who used to live in our university's building, they have 220 hectres with 450 female cows. the milk the cows twice a day from 3-6am ad 3-6pm for around 6-7 minutes each. the milk is left overnight so that the fat floats to the top and when the fat is removed, the evening partially skimmed milk is mixed with the whole milk from the morning.

some facts about parmigiano reggiano from the dairy Montecoppa:

certain cows are used/bred for meat production and milk production - not necessarily both___it is too expensive for them to be organic-certified___there are no male cows on the farm - the females are artificially inseminated - and the baby male cows are kept for 30 days and then sold___the average life of a cow is 8-10 years___there are micro-chips in the cows that systematically manage how much milk each individual cow should produce and counts how many steps she takes which registeres how nervous or ready she is for insemination___some farms will add water to the cows' feed mix so that it all sticks together and the cows cannot milk and choose the ingredients that they like, but this is not allowed by the consorzio b/c the water in the feed permits the risk of bacterial growth___there are 3 stages: fresh milk production after birth, peak production, and almost dry with lower milk production___600L of milk = 1 wheel of cheese, 16L = 1Kilo___Montecoppa is considered an artisinal farm because they only produce about 12 cheese wheels a day___36-40kilo is the average weight of a wheel but they lose 200g a month - 45 kilo is the amount of fresh cheese on the day of production___cheese ages fora  min of 1 year, 36-48 months is considered special reserve___younger cheese is milkier, whereas matured cheese is sandy and nuttier.