A Lesson on Parmigiano Reggiano: Day 2

then, naturally, after seeing where the milk comes from, it is obligatory to go see how the milk turns into cheese. so early in the morning, we departed for the cheesemaker "Caseificio San Salvatore" in Colorno to see the cheese production process. 

part skim evening milk and whole morning milk mixed together before 6 am___the yellowy colour is whey and is the starter mixture, high in acidity, it is full of natural bacterias___the quantity and quality of the milk recieved is never the same so the producer must determind the whey amount___the cauldrons have double walls (the tempertaure the same so that milk is uniform - around 36 degrees) that go deep into the ground and are just high enough for the cheesemaker to reach in to stir___animal rennet is added to the liquid. rennet is the stomach lining and they take it when cows are slaughtered, then it is washed, dried and chopped into a powder and preserved with sea salt___2 drops of rennet per 100l milk which is usually about 20-24 drops___the cheesemaker knows the exact time to add the rennet (8:05am). he is like a chef and has to understand the milk itself and the entire process - he even knows which farms' milk and type of cow milks that can be mixed together___the rennet causes the milk to coagulate and changes the structure of the liquid into a jelly-like one - 12 minutes later curds appear___copper cauldrons are the tradition and it is the best heat conducter after silver so that the curd doesn't stick to the wall as it acts as a repellent through chemical reactions___the quality of cheese could change within seconds but the cheesemakers know by touch___there are different tools used for the separation of the curds___the rising temps allow the faster mixing because the molecur links are stronger___the colours change from yellow (the whey) to white (the cheese/protein) but a certain amount of whey must remain in the curd otherwise it will turn to stone during the aging process___when the final temp (54-55 degrees) is reached, the whey is on top and the curds have sunk to the bottom of the cauldron - then wait one hour until it is cool. the whey will weigh down on the curds___the cauldrons are washed just with water as solvents are not allowed___the cheese is wrapped in cloth and put into moulds - the wrap is changed 3x's a day and the cheese is fipped so that the liquid is drained___it then goes into the salted brine - up to 30 days depending on the size and turned upside down every day. the fat comes out the salt goes in, causing a natural rind to form___the natural osmosis takes about 9 months___by 9:48 the work is done and it is time to just clean up

8:14:44am - they time it to the second.

can also tell when its ready by the touch. the curds form on top then settle to the bottom.

while we wait for the curds to settle to the bottom of the vats and the liquids to cool, we go see the cheese wheels in the salt baths.

watch the magic. 

then they drain the liquid from the cheese and the whey is vacuumed out.

go into buckets to be marked.

next, we visited the Consozio Agrario Parma, which is basically a huge storage facility where the large wheels of parmigiano reggiano sit in long corridors to age properly under the correct temperature and humidity conditions.

there is a machine goes down each aisle that turns each wheel of cheese as well as dusts it___when cheese is wet to the touch it is called "sweating"___they have to also check the quality of the cheeses.  mezzano, the second grade parmigiano reggiano cannot last a second summer if the problem is with the milk, but if the problem came from thet structure, it can continue to be aged___the quality is perceived by tapping the wheel to determine if the problem is with the milk or can be determined by the structure because outside forms/damages will be seen____mountain milk is considered to be better quality so more expensive___wheels lose about 5% weight every year___prices fluctuate___bad cheese smell dusty.

of course throughout the course of the day we had lots of cheese to eat. 

(and this is just what i took pictures of...)

milky squeaky curd.

raw parmigiano reggiano

parmigiano reggiano in the aging facility. 

a bunch of small hor d'oeuvres for lunch.

and pasta of course. 

and again at the packaging facility. maybe it's jamie oliver's. maybe it's organic. maybe it's shipped to a chain store in england. maybe all the cheese is exactly the same. 

the last visit in our parmigiano reggiano stage was to the packaging center in Parma called Gennari. 

they collect the cheese for packaging___jamie oliver newest client___some parm reg is fixed weight or cut and otehrs are packaged ___pay for the label or the plastic tray____bio packaging is more expensive than the cheese___blocks are more expensive than triangle cuts b/c there is more waste because cut out the "heart" of the cheese wheel

the cheese wheel gets cut into equal layers.

the heart is cut out.

the cheese layer is sliced.

perfectly cut slices.

falls apart into the bucket, ready for packaging.

into the trays to be labeled and sealed. 

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. 

"See, people come into your life for a reason. They might not know it themselves, why. You might not know it. But there’s a reason. There has to be." Joyce Carol Oates

welcome home, colorno. 

colorno makes me happy.

my friends make me happy.

"Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious." - Ruth Reichl

5 weeks later, my main homie g and i were reunited in milan. i think we laughed for the first 15 minutes before we could actually talk. two nights in milan, doing nothing but wandering around the capital city and catching up on our summer holidays then a very early train (and a missed stop, one too far by fault of the conductor, not us) to the ligurian sea coast brought us to varazze. every beach, or bagni, was reserved for paying customers to lay on row after row of lounging beach chairs. so we found the free beach - a narrow strip of rocky sand - and plopped down our backpacks and basked in the sun. a whole day of italian summer's sea sun after 5 weeks in ireland clearly leads to a sunburn. asher arrived to meet us shortly after and it was as though the three of us were just driving across europe together yesterday. with nowhere to stay, we showered on the beach and got changed in the car and then were ready for our big night out: dinner on the beach. our tutor, alberto and his friends started  cavolfiori a merenda who cook and serve local specialties in spectacular places. dinner on the beach with the waves splashing up on shore near us while the sun set was definitely spectacular. it was a beautiful night and just lovely to eat with the sand between our toes. we sat at the end of the table across from the farmer and his wife who made the cheese that was part of our aperativo and first course. (he wanted to divorce her and adopt me. arina offered to trade me for 3 sheep.) the other local specialty was a genovese brewery, Maltus Faber, who provided us with a different beer for each of the four courses. the owner of the hotel who's beach we occupied was also a fisherman who caught the sardines, squid, and shrimp which were part of our first three courses. the entire town was sold out, not even a floor to find to sleep on, so we slept under the stars with every article of clothing on and with the latino's, i mean, on the lettino's aka beach lounge chairs.

the sun sets as we get introductions to each course. 

eating on the edge of the sea shore.

pumpkin, courgette, mixed greens, black olives, pine nuts, pumkin seeds on top of sheep's ricotta (mine's missing the sardines)

squid with salicornia cooked in its own ink infused with licorice and topped with bread crumbs

bean soup infused with lobster broth with a genovese foccaccia, lardo and lemon "cooked" shrimp

 local genovese beer. 

applauding the staff after delicious lemon tort with lavender cream.

homeless for the night, but not a worry and perfectly happy.

"Though their life was modest, they believed in eating well."
— James Joyce

sleeping under the stars, waking up to the sun...and people in bathing suits while we're wrapped in layers and blankets. 

a perfect way to end the summer. 

"O Ireland my first and only love
Where Christ and Caesar are hand and glove!
O lovely land where the shamrock grows!"  — James Joyce

A Walk on Killahooey Beach.

mum arrived on monday, a beautiful sunny day to greet her, and the first thing she wanted to do was walk on the beach. splendid.

ps. killahooey has surpassed central park as my favourite place to run. well, only running in the direction of the wind. the other way is much too hard. central park has hott running men. killahooey has fascinating jellyfish (below)

does anyone know what kinda jellyfish this is? it fascinates me. 

and allows me to stop and stare aka catch my breath and stop running for half a minute.

footsteps to nowhere.

mum?

when the sun shines, the sea sparkles.

Port na Blagh

a lovely walk to port na blagh from dunfanaghy.

the old view from the other house.

my favourite colour of the sea, only when the sun hits it just so.

Turkey Eggs.

Have you ever heard of such a thing? or even thought about eating turkey eggs? I certainly haven't. never seen them before. never thought about eating them before. but turkeys, being birds, must be hatched from somewhere...of course i had to buy them when i saw them.

from the farmer's market.

really large.

impossible to crack open.

poached way too fast.