Description
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
More about Parmigiano Reggiano:
The Renaissance
In the Emilia region of the 15th century, feudal lords and abbeys contributed to the production increase of the Parma and Reggio plains that led to further economic development.
The wheel size increased reaching weights of up to 18kg each. The 16th century saw the development of the so-called “vaccherie”, cowsheds, connected to a dairy to process the milk of the owner, as well as that of the sharecroppers that took turns to help the cheese master,
hence the name “turnario” in Italian. Dairies became a production, economic, and then social reference point.
In those years production developed also in the province of Modena. The cooks of that time mentioned “Parmigiano” in several recipes of pasta dishes and sweets.
Sales continued growing: in Parma merchants called “formaggiai” or “lardaroli” used to sell cheese and deli meats to traders from other areas, especially from Milan and Cremona. That was when they started exporting all around Europe: Germany, Flanders, France and also Spain.
The importance of time
The story of Parmigiano-Reggiano is a long one, and also a slow one, following the natural rhythm of the seasons.
In fact, the minimum maturation time is 12 months, the longest among all the PDO cheeses, and only at this point can it be decided if each individual wheel is worthy of the name it was given at its birth, and therefore continue the maturation up to 24, 36, 40 months and more.
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