Parmigiano Reggiano is the oldest cheese in the world.
At least that's what I was told, and I believe it. It's also the first product in the world with the DOP designation, the Protected Designation of Origin (Denominazione d' Origine Pretetta, in Italian), the law that protects the names of specialty food products from a specific geographical origin.
This weekend I visited one of the producers of just such a product in just such a geographical origin, Caseficio Sociale Soragna. And this ladies and gentlemen is the master (it shames me that I don't know his name, because this visit was truly magical). He allowed us to come into his factory completely unannounced and without too much disruption I hope, asking a bunch of questions and taking a bunch of photos. I hope that you enjoy this as much as I did.
However, this story really starts with me (surprised??? Ha! :-)
For about a year now I've been dabbling in making my own Parmigiano style cheese (again, only cheese made in a very specific area in Italy can legally be called Parmigiano Reggiano, so I'm very much respecting that).
Allora
I've made a few wheels of cheese and I think they are quite good. The flavor and texture are nearly there, but the rind needs some help, it's a bit thick and hard, so on my recent trip to visit colleagues in Ticino I took a voyage into Italy to investigate solutions.
My good friend, and a man who I owe a large debt of gratitude, arranged this magical trip.
Mr. Nicola Bergamaschi
Nicola's family has lived in this area for several generation, the family home is still there.
We had originally planned to tour another factory but there was some mix-up and they weren't there. Nicola jumped into action and drove us a few kilometers to another factory, and the magic began.
We arrived in the area the night before with Nicola's 14 year old son in tow. It's always fun drinking wine with a 14 year old, well, in Italy at least :-)
In the morning production had started at 5. We arrived around 8:30 so the action was well underway.
I'll not bore you with too much of the technical details, but in general here's how it goes:
Cows are milked twice a day, in the morning and the afternoon. The morning milk has much less fat because the cows are just sleeping, no movement. The evening milk, however, is full of fat. Both are delivered just after milking. The evening milk is left out overnight in shallow pans and the cream rises to the top. In the morning the cream is removed and butter is made elsewhere while the remaining milk is mixed with the morning milk as it's delivered.
Each copper pot receives 1000 liters of milk.
The milk is heated up and mixed with 30 liters what they call serum, not sure why, but that's just what it is. More on the serum later but that starts the fermentation and converts the lactose in the milk to lactic acid.
Rennet is then added and the solids in the milk react by forming a large curd. This is then "cut" by a large whisk making small rice grain sized curds which are then heated to shrink them even further, drawing out more of the whey, until the master has determined that the curds are perfect in size and texture (about 12 minutes).
The heat is turned off and the cuds settle forming a mass.
The mass is gathered in cloth and is cut in half.
We were given a chunk of the curds to eat. It had a light buttery flavor and the texture was a bit bouncy, in a good way. Maybe al dente is a better description... The feeling was "fresh", if that makes sense.
Each half is then transferred to it's initial mold or form and left for a few hours under a gentle pressure.
After some time they are unwrapped and re-wrapped in fresh dry cloth and pressed again.
A third time they are placed in a new mold. However this time there is no cloth and a plastic sheet is placed between the cheese and mold making the classic imprint on the exterior.
Among other things the plastic includes the month of manufacture and specifics about the manufacturer.
Once completely externally dry they are soaked in salt water for 20-25 days. Again, until the master says they are ready.
We were told that the water is changed every 2-3 years..... they just keep adding more salt and let it ride.
This factory makes about 48 wheels
every
day
:-O
Every Day
In the beginning the wheels are turned every week. After 6 months or so that changes to every month. This is generally done by this machine that also brushes the exterior of each wheel.
This is a lot of cheese....
Some of the whey is reserved each day and is left to stand all day, evening, and into the next morning. This is then called the "serum" and is used to start the initial fermentation of the milk.
There is about 5 million Euros worth of cheese stored here.
At 12 months an inspectors checks each wheel. If it meets the requirements of a perfect Parmigiano Reggiano (whatever criteria that is) then a hot brand is used burn the certifying mark into each wheel. They can now be sold but typically are aged a minimum of 24 months or longer before they are sold.
Nearby is also the Parmigiano museum. We visited and it was awesome, but there's not more info to share over what's above, so here's a cool poster that I saw.
I can't thank Nicola enough. Not only did he coordinate everything but he took time away from his family (except for his oldest son), drove me around, translated, and generally made this a truly life (and cheese changing) experience.
Thank you Nicola, you are forever in my heart.
Saluti
DVA
