Frank and Sal Parmigiano Reggiano 1 Pound Top Grade

For a thousand years Parmigiano is still made the same way. Painstakingly by hand.

Welcome to a world where human labor, a thousand years of history, traditions and a cherished and protected land come together to produce an inimitable cheese.

It's all About the Milk

The milk from the morning and the previous evening is poured into the traditional upturned bell-shaped copper vats. It takes about 550 liters of milk to produce each wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano. The milk slowly and naturally coagulates with the addition of rennet and a whey starter, rich in starter cultures, from the previous day's processing.

The curd which forms is then broken down by the master cheese-maker into minuscule granules using a traditional tool called "spino".

This is where fire comes into the picture, in a cooking process that reaches 55 degrees centigrade, after which the cheesy granules sink to the bottom of the cauldron forming a single mass.

After about fifty minutes the cheese-maker removes the cheese mass which will give rise to two twin wheels.

Cut into two parts and wrapped in the typical linen cloth, the cheese is then placed in a mold that will give it its final shape.

Aged to Perfection

Our Parmigiano is Aged for 24 Months

Finally, the wheels are placed on wooden shelves and aged for a minimum of 12 months and up to 36 months. Every seven days, the cheese wheels are rotated and cleaned either manually or with a special machine. The final wheel weighs about 100 pounds!

At 12 months, the Consorzio Parmigiano Reggiano, the governing body that regulates that standards of Parmigiano Reggiano, inspects each wheel. To test its quality, the representative taps each wheel and checks to make sure there aren't any cracks or holes. Once it passes the test, it is given the stamp of approval (literally!) and can now be deemed the title Parmigiano Reggiano DOP.

No wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is the same. Since it is an artisan product produced all year round, there is variability with the season and the day.

Parmigiano Reggiano is produced exclusively in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna to the left of the Reno river, and Mantua to the right of the Po river: this is the area hosting the farms where the cattle are fed on locally grown forage. The feeding of cattle complies with the norms of a strict specification that bans the use of silage, fermented feeds and animal flour.

According to the Consorzio's regulations, cows producing milk destined to become Parmigiano-Reggiano can be fed only grasses and hay. Any fermented fodder, or silage, such as is commonly fed to cattle here, is off-limits. The cattle also cannot be fed any food of animal origin or any food by-product (that happens all the time in the U.S.).

Storage

How to store Parmigiano Reggiano when freshly cut or taken out of the pack

When you buy our Parmigiano Reggiano It is freshly cut the day you order. When you take it out of the vacuum-pack, it must be stored in the refrigerator at a temperature ranging from 4 to 8°C. Parmigiano Reggiano keeps its delectable features unchanged if stored:

• at an optimal humidity level. (The range of effective humidity should be no less than 75 percent RH and no greater than 95 percent RH.)
• Keep far from other food (the fatty part of cheese tends to absorb other smells present in the refrigerator)
• It is therefore advisable to keep it in glass or plastic containers.

Another practical solution consists of wrapping Parmigiano Reggiano in a food-grade plastic film.

In this way, Parmigiano Reggiano can be kept for a long time making sure periodically that its conditions do not change.

While it can be frozen It is advisable never to freeze cheese as it will change the consistency and affect the flavor.