Parmigiano Reggiano (The Cheese)
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
This is the stuff... NOT the stuff that comes in a powdery form in a green cardboard can.
Which reminds me of a joke...
<P>
<I>Did you hear that Kraft is opening a factory near Jerusalem? It's called Cheeses of Nazareth</I>
<P>
But seriously, although it's wonderful grated on pasta or in soup, the way to enjoy it best
is to just have a chunk of it plain. Firm, buttery, tangy, with those little crystals that give
it an ever-so-slight <i>crunch</i>. There is nothing like it.
<P>
I recently had the pleasure of visiting a farm just north of Parma, Italy which makes this
cheese, courtesy of the <A HREF="http://www.parmigiano-reggiano.it/">Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano-Reggiano</A>. We met the, uh, head cheese, and watched the entire process of turning milk into this epitome of <A HREF="http://www.h2g2.com/A1189">cheesiosity</A>.
<P>
It starts with the <A HREF="http://www.h2g2.com/A139457">cows</A>. They eat a special diet of grass, hay, and whatever else it is that Italian cows eat. All the food they eat is grown in a strictly designated area which supposedly has unique minerals in the soil which contribute to the flavour of the cheese. The food is brought to the cows -- they are not allowed to graze less they eat something that is not in the specified diet.
<P>
The cows are <A HREF="http://www.h2g2.com/A212310">milked</A> twice daily, morning and afternoon. The afternoon milk is stored in vats where the cream rises to the top and is skimmed off and used for butter and other stuff. The morning milk (unskimmed) is then mixed with the previous afternoon's milk, and the cheesemaking process begins.
<P>
The milk is poured into giant copper vats, where it is heated and stirred. At precicely the right moment (as determined by the head cheese) some whey from yesterday's cheesemaking is added (to get the biological stuff started) as well as a special rennet harvested from the stomachs of parmigiano-reggiano approved calves. This rennet costs more than cocaine. More heating and stirring, and you end up with a giant vat of hot, coagulated milk sludge with a texture not disimilar from the star of the movie <A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0051418"><I>The Blob</I></A> (but probably smells a bit better).
<P>
A large wire basket-like affair at the end of a stick is then used to cut sludge into little pieces (called <i>curd</i>) and then the whole mess is heated and stirred some more.
At the precice time (again, as determined by the head cheese) the heat and the stirring is stopped, and the curd settles to the bottom of the vat. The liquid on top (the <i>whey</i>)
is sucked off and fed to pigs who are turned into Prociutto Ham (but that's another story).
The curd is lifted into cheesecloth and hung on a bar placed on top of the vat to drain a
bit. It is then split into two pieces and placed in a wooden mold, where it sits for a couple of days. On the inside of these molds are plastic rings that have the imprint you see on the outside of the finished product.
<P>
Once the cheese is dry enough to hold it's shape, it's taken out of the mold and put in a vat of salt water, where it floats for about a month. From there, it's put on a shelf in an aging room for 2 years. During this time, a cheese inspector (yes, there is such a thing)
tests each cheese to see if it's worthy of being called Parmigiano-Reggiano. This is done by tapping each cheese with a little metal hammer. In doing so, the inspector is able to glean all sorts of information from the cheese, such as it's density, solidness, favourite colour, and sexual orientation.
<P>
Most people don't know this, but there are three grades of Parmigiano-Reggiano. The lowest grade is the stuff that fails the hammer-test after the first year of aging. This stuff isn't even considered to be Parmigiano-Reggiano. The cheesemakers 'x' out the markings on the outside of the cheese in this case. The second grade is cheese that fails certain tests after the first year of aging. This stuff is still called Parmigiano-Reggiano, but may have some problems in texture or taste. The highest grade is called "Parmigiano-Reggiano Extra". This is the good stuff, but it's hard to know if that's what you're getting if you're outside of Italy.
Which reminds me of a joke...
<P>
<I>Did you hear that Kraft is opening a factory near Jerusalem? It's called Cheeses of Nazareth</I>
<P>
But seriously, although it's wonderful grated on pasta or in soup, the way to enjoy it best
is to just have a chunk of it plain. Firm, buttery, tangy, with those little crystals that give
it an ever-so-slight <i>crunch</i>. There is nothing like it.
<P>
I recently had the pleasure of visiting a farm just north of Parma, Italy which makes this
cheese, courtesy of the <A HREF="http://www.parmigiano-reggiano.it/">Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano-Reggiano</A>. We met the, uh, head cheese, and watched the entire process of turning milk into this epitome of <A HREF="http://www.h2g2.com/A1189">cheesiosity</A>.
<P>
It starts with the <A HREF="http://www.h2g2.com/A139457">cows</A>. They eat a special diet of grass, hay, and whatever else it is that Italian cows eat. All the food they eat is grown in a strictly designated area which supposedly has unique minerals in the soil which contribute to the flavour of the cheese. The food is brought to the cows -- they are not allowed to graze less they eat something that is not in the specified diet.
<P>
The cows are <A HREF="http://www.h2g2.com/A212310">milked</A> twice daily, morning and afternoon. The afternoon milk is stored in vats where the cream rises to the top and is skimmed off and used for butter and other stuff. The morning milk (unskimmed) is then mixed with the previous afternoon's milk, and the cheesemaking process begins.
<P>
The milk is poured into giant copper vats, where it is heated and stirred. At precicely the right moment (as determined by the head cheese) some whey from yesterday's cheesemaking is added (to get the biological stuff started) as well as a special rennet harvested from the stomachs of parmigiano-reggiano approved calves. This rennet costs more than cocaine. More heating and stirring, and you end up with a giant vat of hot, coagulated milk sludge with a texture not disimilar from the star of the movie <A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0051418"><I>The Blob</I></A> (but probably smells a bit better).
<P>
A large wire basket-like affair at the end of a stick is then used to cut sludge into little pieces (called <i>curd</i>) and then the whole mess is heated and stirred some more.
At the precice time (again, as determined by the head cheese) the heat and the stirring is stopped, and the curd settles to the bottom of the vat. The liquid on top (the <i>whey</i>)
is sucked off and fed to pigs who are turned into Prociutto Ham (but that's another story).
The curd is lifted into cheesecloth and hung on a bar placed on top of the vat to drain a
bit. It is then split into two pieces and placed in a wooden mold, where it sits for a couple of days. On the inside of these molds are plastic rings that have the imprint you see on the outside of the finished product.
<P>
Once the cheese is dry enough to hold it's shape, it's taken out of the mold and put in a vat of salt water, where it floats for about a month. From there, it's put on a shelf in an aging room for 2 years. During this time, a cheese inspector (yes, there is such a thing)
tests each cheese to see if it's worthy of being called Parmigiano-Reggiano. This is done by tapping each cheese with a little metal hammer. In doing so, the inspector is able to glean all sorts of information from the cheese, such as it's density, solidness, favourite colour, and sexual orientation.
<P>
Most people don't know this, but there are three grades of Parmigiano-Reggiano. The lowest grade is the stuff that fails the hammer-test after the first year of aging. This stuff isn't even considered to be Parmigiano-Reggiano. The cheesemakers 'x' out the markings on the outside of the cheese in this case. The second grade is cheese that fails certain tests after the first year of aging. This stuff is still called Parmigiano-Reggiano, but may have some problems in texture or taste. The highest grade is called "Parmigiano-Reggiano Extra". This is the good stuff, but it's hard to know if that's what you're getting if you're outside of Italy.
