Parmigiano Reggiano

We got up early today around 6am. We went for a stroll through Parma at sunrise. It is a very nice town with lots of little parks. We had breakfast at the hotel which consisted of toast, croissant, several kinds of ham, and yogurt. After breakfast, we met our parmesan and prosciutto tour guide, Caterina, in the lobby. She was cool, about our age, and had just moved back to Italy after spending several years in England. She let us in on the secret that a normal Italian breakfast only consists of coffee and maybe toast. We got in the car and headed for the caseificio, or cheese maker, Montecoppe. Our guide's directions were slow as if it were her first time driving there. When we got there, the cheese factory was doing some construction, so it was very noisy. She took us to see the cows, holsteins, which are fed only grass from the region and have some kind of pedigree from the region - everything must come from the region to be called Parmiggiano Reggiano. We then went into the cheese making area where there were 5 vats of milk. They started to lift the cheese from the bottom at around 9am - it looked like a normal daily routine for these guys. There was an apprentice there who could not manage to bring the first cheese up and Jadine was about to take his picture but the other guy made some comment about not taking his picture because he was embarrassed. In any case, we got a couple of pictures of that process. Then, we went over to the salting room and saw the last week's cheeses. Next door, we had a tasting in the factory's store. The cheese was excellent - powdery, a little sharp, and not dry. We picked up a souvenir here, a parmesan wheel knife and drove over to the storeroom. The storeroom was massive containing cheeses from several producers. Our guide found somebody at the storeroom who could show us how to tell if the cheese had turned bad. It involved taking a metal hammer and giving it a good tap all the way around and listening for any hollow sounds. He demonstrated on both a good one and a bad one and the difference was noticeable. He let us have a try on the bad one and I gave it a couple of light taps and then he said forte - hit it harder. Can do! It sounded like a drum. Next we headed to Langhirano where the prosciuttio di parma is made. We went by the castle where some movie with michelle pfeifer was made and decided to visit it later. The prosciutto factory, Conti, sits on this hill overlooking the valley. It was beautiful country. Inside the factory we saw the whole process as they had just received some pork legs. The process is pretty much: salt the leg, hang it up, add some paste to make it dry out consistently and let it sit for a long time (18 months) in the proper temp & humidity. The factory must have held thousands of legs. It was beautiful and making me hungry. Fortunately, the tour ended here and we headed back to town. Our guide gave us some recommendations for restaurants, one was closed in august for vacation and the other was sit-down which we decided we'd try later. So we had lunch at a nice sandwich shop, called mangia and bevi. I had a ham, cheese (mozarella), and tomato panino and Jadine had a mixed salad with lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, carrots, and olives. The salad comes with no dressing except for olive oil and balsamic vinegar which you add. The sandwich and salad were tasty. After lunch, we had passed a dessert place (cakes and some gelato) and stopped in. We got some little cakes, lemon and pistachio, and a fruit cup with yogurt served in a martini glass. Everything was tasty. We decided to grab the car after lunch but found out the valet wasn't available until 5:30. So we took a walk around the ducal garden. We found out from our cheese tour guide that the area was once under the authority of Maria Luigia, Napoleon's wife and the recent mayor had taken to cleaning up the town and it showed. There were quite a few people in the park relaxing in the hot 35 C degree weather. We made it back to the hotel at 5:30 and drove out to Langhirano again to visit the castle, which closed at 7. We got in a good tour of the castle's rooms and frescoes before heading back. On the way back we stopped at the supermarket, Conad, which I like to do every place I go because I like to see what people get for everyday things. They had all the deli meats, all cow and pig parts, whole fishes, and lots of fruits. We bought some water and went back to the hotel. On the way back, lightning began to appear high in the sky. Back in the hotel, the thunderstorm kicked into full gear giving a spectacular show. Luckily, it was a short show and we were able to get out for dinner. We had dinner at the Tribunale. We ordered prosciutto and cantalope (melone), gnocchi in cheesy sauce with eggplant (melanzale), anolini filled with parmesan in broth, and a steak filet cooked extra rare with potatoes. It was too much food - we're still getting the hang of ordering. We went back to the hotel still reeling from the days activities.