The purpose of Italian Food Valley is to discover and enhance Italian food products that are still handcrafted and that enhance the ancient traditions and authenticity of the food. This passion was born from the fusion of Italian culinary culture, biology, and the study of technological food processes for food production.
It all started several years ago when, after graduating with a degree in molecular biology, I won a scholarship at the University of Parma to attend a master’s program in food technology.
Why did I become deeply interested in Parmigiano Reggiano?
I believe that Parmigiano Reggiano is one of the few foods now sold globally that is still produced artisanal according to strict specifications and that manages to enhance a vast territory located in the Emilia region, therefore, is a genuine Italian product that makes Italy great in the world.
Dairy culture in addition to having studied it at university ran in the family because my wife’s mother was the daughter of an important and renowned dairyman from Parma and a very good dairy worker. For these reasons in my house, Parmigiano Reggiano is an institution, “a tip” must always be present at the table.
Over time getting to know the industry better and better, I realized that under the name Parmigiano Reggiano PDO, there are extremely different products and, in my opinion, different levels of quality.
For these reasons, I embarked on this journey in this wonderful world that started as a passion but is slowly turning into a job: trying to discover, select and enhance what, in my opinion, are the best cheeses made in my area.
The production of this cheese has a history going back thousands of years. The earliest historical records where cheese production in the area is mentioned date back to the Middle Ages, the monks, had learned how to make cheese that would last and could be easily transported. Notarial deeds dated 1254 have been found that testify to a commercial transaction of “caseus parmensis.”
Parmigiano Reggiano is widely known mainly because of the intense work done over the years by the consortium for the protection of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (year of birth 1934) created precisely for the purpose of protecting the designation of origin, facilitating trade and consumption, and helping producers maintain high-quality standards.
To truly understand this wonderful product and what differences exist within this varied world, one must get to know the territory, frequent the dairies and farms that raise the cows, and put one’s nose into the commercial dynamics that have allowed the spread of this cheese throughout the world; unfortunately, this spread has also had negative sides such as the creation of ugly copies produced in other countries that have nothing to do with the original product.
As mentioned before the Parmigiano Reggiano produced, is controlled, and verified by the consortium of protection that supervises, controls, and allows the PDO marking, the consortium oversees the maintenance of its craftsmanship but fortunately fails to homogenize quality. The quality or, rather, the diversification among the different forms of parmesan originates in each step of the production chain starting with the fodder to feed the animals that will produce the milk.
In a future article, I will try to better explain why there are differences between each wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano that is produced although they are all PDO branded.
Making a brief mention, we can summarize the differences dependent on forage production, the way the cows are housed and fed, and the operational differences of the production dairies.
Getting to know the producers and discovering the small differences in processing methods, (although regulated by strict specifications) understanding how the old tradition is expertly mixed with new technologies, and how young farmers manage to enhance their territory gave me the stimulus to embark on this journey.
In subsequent articles, I will also try to explain the variability in the marketing of this product that has become the “number one cheese made in Italy.” As I see it, until the recent past, marketing was in the hands of a few large wholesalers and large-scale organized distribution, which has never been able to valorize the product and especially its production chain-in fact, at times it has made the work of producers extremely complicated.