Parmigiano Reggiano

The king of cheeses!

We human beings like to categorise everything. From best to worst, from biggest to smallest, from cheapest to most expensive, you name we've got a category for it.
The world of cheese is no exception. Many paragraphs could be written discussing the smellest, tastiest or most expensive cheeses, or making top ten lists of such. However, when it comes to the category of the world's best cheese there is already an unofficial champion, who in many people's books, makes such pontifications unnecessary.

Our champion is non other than Parmigiano regiano, otherwise knicknamed the king of cheeses. Is this status justified? Following on, we will look briefly at this cheese and try to understand how it got such lofty position in the world of cheeses.

Where did Parmigiano Reggiano come from?

The question abouts origins can be a tricky one to answer in many cases, such as embarassed parents discussing with their offspring about the origin of a new baby brother or sister, or the many heated debates that rage about the origin of the universe or life on Earth.

When it comes to cheese though their origins are not usually quite so embarrassing or hotly debated. That being said, it can still be difficult to know the exact details of how certain cheese came into being.

In the case of Parmigiano Reggiano, it is believed that monks around the Parma area (hence the Parmigiano, meaning ’of Parma’) first started making a hard cheese by maturing the solid extract from cow’s milk as many as 800 or even 900 years ago. It is believed that this forerunner to Parmigiano Reggiano was not very different to the modern variety, thus it can be claimed that Parmigiano Reggiano has been a prominent cheese for at least nine centuries.

The first recorded mention of Parmigiano Reggiano is in a 1254 document in which a noble woman from Genoa trades her house for a guaranteed annual supply of 53 pounds (24 kg) of this cheese.  From then on, there are many historical and literary mentions using various different names. One famous one is in the 1351 work called, ”Decamerone” by Giovanni Boccaccio. Here a fictitious land of food named Bengodi is described, which includes a mountain of grated Parmigiano cheese! (Now, that truely would be paradise!).

How is it made?

Now, maybe you are wondering about the significance of the Reggiano part of the cheese’s name. This refers to the town of Reggio Emilia, which is not far from Parma. In the area between both towns, a very similar hard cheese was produced. Over time, it’s production spread to a few other local areas.

Since 1954, cheesemakers in these areas joined together to form the ’Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano’. This is an alliance, which standardised the production of Parmigiano Reggiano and ensures that until this day strictly controlled traditional methods are used to produce the cheese.

There are in essence only three ingredients, milk, salt and rennet (enzymes that initiate a process that seperates the solid and liquid part of the milk).

Local cows are milked twice a day (a rule is that the milk has to reach the factory where the cheese is made in under two hours). Each mornings’ milk intake is mixed with skimmed milk from the previous evenings’ milking. This milk combination is poured into copper bell shaped vats and has rennet plus the previous days’ whey (the liquid produced as a result of seperating the solids out of milk) added.

In around 10 minutes the milk coagulates, in other words the solids start to seperate out. A special tool called a ’Spino’ (sort of like a large whisk with a long, wooden handle) is used to mix the solution. It breaks down the curd (solid milk) into small granules.

This milk solution is heated to up to 55 degrees celsius, which causes the milk granules to sink to the bottom of the vat and to form one, big solid mass. This mass is skillfully removed by a cheesemaker and cut into two parts. Each half is wrapped in a special cloth and put into a wheel shaped container, which will be the cheese’s home for the next few days, until it has started to become dry and firm.

The final step is for the cheese to spend a period in a bath of salt water, in order to absorp the salt that preserves them. This salted cheese wheel is then placed in a maturation room, where it will sit for many months until it has reached the desired hardness.

A Quality Product

As you can see, this is a relatively simple process. Two of the main factors that are influencing the quality of the cheese are the milk that it is being made from and the conditions in which the cheese is produced and matured.

Along the way, the production process is strictly controlled to ensure a quality product. The cows, from which the milk is taken, are fed only on local grasses. The milk is quality controlled before use.

Each cheese is given a unique number, which allows it to be traced and quality controlled. After 12 months in the maturation room, all cheeses are inspected and only those that pass the test, are allowed to remain and be matured and sold.

The End

The final products are cheeses that have been matured for at least 18, 22 or 30 months. All are granular in structure and crumbly, but each has a distinctive taste.
They can be eaten on their own, as an accompliment to different foods and drinks, but in particularly they shine as cheeses to grate onto many dishes to add flavouring.

A true champion

Overall then, Parmigiano Reggiano, is a cheese with a rich history and due to the great care taken in monitoring its production, the consumer can have confidence they are getting a quality product.

The cheese itself is versatile, with different uses and as we have seen is produced naturally, without additives, resulting in a tasty, easy to digest cheese.
It’s not hard to see why Parmigiano Reggiano has been knicknamed the king of cheeses!