Restaurant pasta in a cheese head. Parmesan - a unique cheese in Italy

My relationship with Italian cuisine th were difficult. When I first moved to Italy in 2008, I was shocked by how they cook in Italian restaurants. I had little experience; in Samara and Moscow, Italian cuisine was extremely fashionable and extremely sophisticated and, as I now understand, was very far from real Italian cuisine. The first time after the move, it always seemed to me that it was more interesting to cook from such products as were and are in Italy. The Italians, on the other hand, strove and are striving for simplicity, for the pure taste of products of excellent quality. In short, during my stay in Italy, I was so imbued with this simplicity that for a very long time I could not perceive Italian restaurants in Moscow. On the one hand, you won't cook here like in an Italian village - the public won't understand. On the other hand, there is some kind of contradiction between the very idea of ​​Italian cuisine and the complex faces with which visitors to the Moscow Semifreddo and Cantinetta Antinori absorb it. Several establishments in Moscow manage to maintain a balance, the best of which for me is the Valentino Bontempi restaurant on Krasny Oktyabr.

Perhaps this is my favorite restaurant in the city, a place where I have been happy to go for a long time and not without pleasure I note the consistently good service, excellent food quality, excellent wine list and excellent work of a sommelier. I am very sympathetic to Valentino himself: he managed to find a balance between the media (he released several cookbooks dedicated to Italian cuisine) and presence in the kitchen. I do not remember a single Friday night when he was not in the hall. He always goes out to the guests, gets to know regular customers, comes up to chat and find out how things are, comes to the table to make homemade ice cream using liquid nitrogen or stir the pasta in a parmesa head. He is molto gentile, as the Italians say - smiling, sympathetic, a real master of his place. Besides, he speaks excellent Russian! The last time, on Friday, he came up to say hello, praised my Italian, noting my northern accent (molto, molto gentile! The accent, I think I have a nightmare), and when we were leaving, he called out to me: Ti ho promesso l "ultima volta un regalo! - I promised you a gift last time. I was amazed, I thought he promised Pasha! And as a result I presented a jar of pesto from Liguria, with which we made a wonderful pasta on Saturday. So consider that everything written below was paid for with a jar of Ligurian pesto !

He succeeded in a restaurant in which everything is in moderation. Firstly, the food there is simply wonderful, with a fair amount of inventiveness and attention to traditions. The menu is not boring at all and is distinguished by a variety of both recipes and the products themselves. We always take bruschetta- my husband loves with lard, I prefer the one with tomatoes or baked pepper... Quite wonderfully Valentino succeeds meat tartar - it is really the best in Moscow, and indeed the best of those that I have tried - and I order it in all countries, I love raw meat. There are never any complaints about octopus is one of my favorite foods. An octopus is easily spoiled - and spoiled with enviable regularity. In "Bontemi" he is always as if outside the window is not the Moskva River, but the sea. A totally freaky snack crispy scampi bassoon with light foie gras sauce - small dough envelopes with delicious sauce. Baptism as if made in the Bologna hills! Lovely salad of warm beef leg with vegetables - I take it when I'm in a dietary mood. Pasha loves very much parmesan pasta, which is cooked in a cheese head. Excellent risotto with mushrooms. Lovely beef cheeks... The last time I ordered lamb care with sun-dried tomatoes - and it was wonderful! I especially love desserts chocolate flan, pannacotta and Creme brulee... Very delicious assorted homemade cookies and marmalade - you can be served a portion for one or for two.

Secondly, the restaurant has an excellent and balanced wine list - it has both expensive and budget items. Italian wines are represented most widely, which is natural. The wines are grouped by grape variety, so you can easily find what you are looking for. The sommelier is always ready to tell you in detail about each wine and help you make a choice. Of course, there are no complaints about the choice of glasses, otherwise they sometimes bring such dishes in other places!

Thirdly, the restaurant has a stable and good service. The waiters know the composition of the dishes, can tell you in detail about the preparation method, and can give advice. Dishes are brought quickly, sometimes, however, too quickly than you want. Plates are taken away on time, wine or water is poured into the glass on time. The team of waiters has been formed for a long time, the guys work really well. And yes, no one there looks at you with an appraising glance, as we are very fond of doing in many establishments.

Fourth, in summer the restaurant has a beautiful terrace overlooking the Moskva River and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. By the way, the construction of the veranda has already begun, it remains to wait for the warmth. Even in winter, when the veranda is closed, the river and Ostozhenka are visible from the window - not the worst view, agree?

Fifth, the restaurant attracts a very correct audience - people with taste and without unnecessary pathos. There are always a lot of expats, and there are Italians too. Once we saw Marat Safin there, another time - Alexander Mamut, my husband always recognizes the financiers and bankers. Doesn't go to a restaurant - how can I put it mildly? - secured cattle, sorry for the rude word. We once had dinner at Semifreddo (by the way, one of best restaurants Europe according to San Pellegrino), so there were brothers in Adidas tracksuits with spiteful silicone and blondes fillers. To be honest, I thought that they were all extinct - but no! There are no such people in Bontempi, there is a normal audience without unnecessary show-off.

In short, Valentino has succeeded in a wonderful restaurant with a high degree of normality, a restaurant as it should be - where people go first for food, but, nevertheless, in a trendy place (it is located on Red October), with a non-challenging and not attractive attention to the decor (and not like in Piccolino, for example, where you feel like visiting a crazy grandmother who is not able to part with a bunch of cute things), with a wine list with normal prices and decent assortments (and not like Mnatsakanov's in "Cork", which I also respect).

Probably, all that remains is to highlight the price issue. IN

Since the beginning of summer, on Rubinshteina Street, on the territory usually occupied by the parking lot of the Vladimirsky Passage, the Mercato Locale has been operating - a small summer market with farm products and corners with food from good St. Petersburg establishments. The project was launched by two restaurant holdings Italy Group (Italy, Hitch, Goose Goose) and Dreamteam by Alexey Burov and Pavel Kokkov (Smoke BBQ, Trappist, Pivnaya Karta), and cafes and restaurants of various formats were invited to participate: The court was opened by the democratic Israeli Bekitzer, modernists from DuoBand, and the Georgian restaurant Chemi, and one of the kiosks was given to the festival team “Oh, yes! Food!" - a new food project opens in it every week.

During the World Cup (and especially in the background), the street food court in the city center was overcrowded with tourists from morning to evening. After the end of the competition, the wave of visitors subsided a bit, so now is the time to appreciate the pretty market. The Village has selected the five most unusual dishes markets for which it is worth going to Mercato Locale in the first place.

Mercato locale

Working hours: 10:00–22:00

Average check: 500 rubles

Pasta di Bologna by Italy

Parmesan pasta - 200 rubles

To dine properly, you should look into the Italian corner Pasta di Bologna: firstly, fresh homemade tagliatelli is made here right in front of visitors. Secondly, pasta is prepared here, perhaps in the most effective way possible - right in the head of Parmesan cheese. The cheese is melted with burning alcohol, and then it is kneaded with pre-boiled pasta. Basic version (with butter and cheese) costs 200 rubles, but if you wish, the dish can be made more interesting due to toppings: there is bacon, shrimps, porcini mushrooms, champignons, tomatoes, anchovies and pine nuts (60–90 rubles).

Seafood & Waffle by Trappist

Paella - 300 rubles

Another variant hearty lunch or dinner - paella from the Trappist cafe team, made according to all the rules. For its preparation, a special Ofyr grill was installed at the food market site, which allows you to maintain a very high temperature. In addition to rice, the dish includes finely chopped bell peppers, onion, green pea, garlic, chili peppers, tomatoes, white wine, wheat beer and bisque from shrimp, crab and fish shells, as well as fried calamari, langoustines and White Sea mussels. On weekdays, paella is cooked 3-4 times, starting at 15:00, and on weekends, they start at 13:00.

Roots by Duoband

Grilled spitz cabbage - 250 rubles

For vegetarians and vegans, there is a direct road to the Roots kiosk, which was opened at the food market by the Duo Band team (Duo, Tartarbar, Duo.Asia). For the chef Dmitry Blinov, who initially became famous for his elegant work with meat and offal, the very choice of specialties seems quite unexpected. However, the only thing fishplate the kiosk's menu includes grilled halibut with unagi sauce (400 rubles), and all other items are vegetable. Here romaine lettuce is fried on the fire (250 rubles), a line of wheat cakes with various fillings is made - for example, with bell pepper(200 rubles), olive tapenade (250 rubles) or baked eggplant (250 rubles), served broken cucumbers(150 rubles) and quinoa with vegetables (200 rubles). But the main hit is the beautifully simple grilled Spitz cabbage served with sour cream and truffle sauce.

Roof by Dreamteam

Nitro coffee - 250 rubles

In the Roof coffee kiosk, in addition to classic espresso-based drinks (from 130 rubles), which are made from specialty grains, you can order espresso tonic or nitro coffee that is more relevant in the heat (250 rubles). The latter is especially interesting: until now, nitro coffee in St. Petersburg was prepared literally in a couple of the most advanced coffee houses. By appearance and a bitter-sour taste, it resembles beer, and it is prepared by passing cold extraction coffee through the beer equipment and enriching it with nitrogen.

Backyard by SmokeBBQ

A kid or a lamb on a skewer - 400 rubles

Restaurant SmokeBBQ presents its own mobile project Backyard on the food court - a mobile smokehouse-grill, where a burger with a branded brisket (300 rubles) and a burrito with smoked pork (300 rubles) and, for example, chili con carne with nachos ( 250 rubles). And from time to time on weekends, a whole kid or lamb from the Jamalovs' eco-farm, located in the Leningrad Region, is baked on a spit. Unfortunately, there is no exact timetable, so amateurs fried meat in its oldest form, you should follow the restaurant's news on social networks.

Photos: Mercato locale

Parmesan(original name Parmigiano-Reggiano, Italian. Parmigiano-Reggiano, that is, "Parma-Reggian") - Italian hard cheese long maturation, made from cow's milk.

The cheese got its name from the two main regions where it is produced: Parma and Reggio Emilia.

The word "parmesan" is French version Italian name, it was it that spread throughout the world.

The article turned out to be very voluminous. For the convenience of finding information, added navigation.

Parmesan is a unique cheese. A mature head of Parmigiano-Reggiano contains only 30% water, while the remaining 70% are useful nutrients.

In 100 gr. Parmesan contains the same amount of protein as a 200 gram piece of beef.

50 gr. this cheese is able to satisfy almost 2/3 of the average daily requirement of the body for calcium, ½ for proteins and 2/5 for phosphorus.

Compared to other cheeses, Parmesan contains the least amount of cholesterol.

In 2005, after long microbiological studies, Parmesan was included in the diet of astronauts at the MIR station and the ISS. It has a high calcium content and high digestibility. And calcium is necessary for people on space stations, as it loses it in the human body in conditions of weightlessness.

Parmesan is included in the nutrition of many Italian sports teams. According to nutritionists from the Italian Winter Sports Federation, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is able to provide an athlete with more energy than any vitamins and natural nutritional supplements.

Parmesan has unique property dairy product, it does not contain lactose. Those people who are lactose intolerant or allergic can enjoy this cheese without consequences.

This is because at the stage of maturation, bacteria in the cheese begin to break down lactose, and by the end of ripening there is almost no lactose left in the head of the cheese (less than 1 gram per 100 grams of Parmesan). Other cheeses are incapable of boasting a similar property.

The amino acid glutamate is present in most protein compounds. During the production and maturation of Parmesan cheese, it reacts with sodium and water to create a natural compound of sodium glutamate inside the head.

This amino acid has a positive effect on the functioning of the brain and the metabolism of the body, and also gives parmesan its unique taste.

Monosodium glutamate can also be found naturally in tomatoes or mushrooms.

Italian mothers agree with doctors and have been giving parmesan crusts to their children for generations. They believe that the high calcium content helps the development of strong teeth and bones.

In addition to the benefits, parmesan can also be harmful.

The main harmful property of parmesan is the large amount of salt that is absorbed into the cheese during production. According to doctors, a healthy adult should not consume more than 2.3 grams. sodium chloride per day.

100 grams of ripe Parmesan contains 1.6 grams. salt, that is, more than half of the daily value.

For people suffering from hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease and other diseases directly related to the water-salt balance in the body, Parmesan can only be consumed in small quantities.

Also to harmful properties can be attributed to the harm from the effects of monosodium glutamate on the body. Although this is extremely rare and has not been scientifically proven, there are suggestions that high concentrations of glutamate in the body can cause dizziness and migraines.

The high calorie content can also be attributed to the harmful properties of parmesan.

100 g Parmigiano-Reggiano contains 402 kcal or 1671 kJ.

Those who watch their weight should limit themselves to this cheese. But how difficult it is to resist a plate of freshly cooked pasta topped with Parmesan.

For the rest, Parmesan only benefits people.

Parmesan varieties or types differ in the maturation time of the cheese. Usually this period is measured in months:

• Parmigiano Reggiano fresco (nuovo) - young cheese, ripening period from 1 to 1.5 years.
• Parmigiano Reggiano vecchio - ripens from 1.5 to 2 years.
• Parmigiano Reggiano stravecchio is a mature cheese. It is kept for 2 to 3 years.

Structure cheese grainy-scaly, brittle, crumbles when cutting.

Consistency dense.

The older the cheese, the more pronounced the graininess and the higher the hardness.

Colour light yellow with a cream shade.

Taste Parmesan is complex and rich: with hints of fruit and nuts, with a spicy long aftertaste and spice.

Scent deep and spicy.

Parmesan tastes and smells differently at different ripeness times.

Parmigiano Reggiano - Unique cheese

The Parmigiano-Reggiano trademark can only be used on cheese:

• produced and matured in the place of origin
• produced according to strict rules, which imply strict adherence to technology (Production Standard), control of cow nutrition (Feeding Rules) and high-quality selection and labeling (Labeling Rules)

Also in Italy there is a consortium of protection, which unites all producers of real parmesan.

The consortium was created in order to control the use of the Parmigiano-Reggiano trademark by excluding and identifying counterfeits. The cheesemakers' association was legally given control over the production of parmesan and its trade.

Also, this consortium contributes to the promotion and distribution of Italian Parmesan throughout the world.

Parmesan is the most popular cheese in Italy

No other cheese is so popular in the land of pasta, pizza and wine lovers. But parmesan is different in maturity and is used in different ways.

One-year-old "Parmigiano Reggiano" goes as an appetizer to a young wine, fresh fruit or vegetables.

Cheese aged up to 2 years is usually added to vegetable or fruit salads, as well as vegetable dishes.

Ripe Parmesan from 24 to 36 months is very good with aged red dry wine.

A safe bet is to serve slices of parmesan cheese seasoned with a little balsamic vinegar.

Parmesan is added to many recipes, and for different dishes choosing cheese of different ages.

Vegetables are baked with it grated, risotto and pizza are prepared.

Fresh and dried fruits are served with chopped pieces, as well as jam made from berries and even onions, tomatoes or pumpkins.

But the main companion of parmesan is pasta.

"Pasta without parmigiano is like a woman without a nose" is an old Italian proverb.

Parmesan is added to almost all recipes that are served with pasta. Exceptions are fish and seafood dishes and sauces.

In dishes where cheese is melted and mixed with other ingredients, it is not necessary to use aged Parmesan, and relatively cheap one-year-old cheese will do.

In ready-made dishes, where cheese melting is not provided, more expensive and mature cheese from two years old is added.

By the way, Parmesan has one more nuance. When melted, it does not stretch like semi-hard and soft cheeses.

In Italian restaurants you can find interesting preparation and serving of pasta with parmesan.

Pasta is rolled directly into the head of the cheese, making a hole in it from above and pre-heat-treated. This will completely cover the pasta with an even layer of cheese.

Video of the cooking process, or rather dipping the pasta into a whole head of Parmesan:

The price per kilogram of Parmigiano-Reggiano starts at 5 and goes up to 40 euros.

In 2013, in Rome, you could buy a 250 gram piece of Parmesan aged 22 months for 6.5-8 euros.

How much and how to store Parmesan cheese

Vacuum packed Parmesan can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, sliced ​​or vacuum-packed, should be stored in the refrigerator at 4-5 ° C.

Parmesan will keep its taste qualities if stored in special containers for cheese or in cling film.

If the cheese has spoiled a little, mold or white bloom has appeared on the surface, then it's okay. Simply cut or wipe the area off the surface of the cheese with a knife.

How to cut a whole parmesan head into pieces correctly. Parmesan video.

There is interesting video(a little over 13 minutes) from the official site of ParmigianoReggiano. com. Some of the images for this article I took from this video.

It briefly shows the origin of the cheese, storage rules and types (varieties) of Parmesan. The cutting process is also shown in detail. whole head parmesan into different parts.

The video is in English, but you can connect Russian subtitles on YouTube. Although without them, everything is shown in detail.

There is one more video (15 min.) And also in a foreign language.

Here the cheese maker Carlo Guffanti masterfully opens and divides the parmesan heads into equal parts.

For those who do not have time to watch videos, the gist starts at 3:15

Compound: Cow's milk, salt, milk-clotting rennet.
20 grams of 22-month-old Parmesan contains 29% (232 mg) of the adult's daily requirement for calcium and 19% (136 mg) of the daily requirement for phosphorus.

100 grams of Parmigiano Reggiano aged 24 months contains:

Energy value: 402 kcal or 1671 kJ

Mass fraction of fat in dry matter. 43%.

Humidity: 32g

Nutritional value of parmesan:

In Italy, in addition to Parmigiano-Reggiano, another long-maturing hard cheese is also widely known and popular - Grana Padano (Italian Grana Padano, from the words grana - "grain" and Padano, originating from the Po river). This cheese can be substituted for Parmesan by adding it to pasta, sauces or salads.

It has a grainy texture like Parmesan. The taste is salty, with a slight nutty aftertaste.

But the parmesan analog differs from the original in taste, processes and production nuances.

The main difference between Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano cheese lies in the quality and types of cow nutrition.

Animals that provide milk for the Grana Padano production are allowed to be fed with silage and fermented feed. For the production of parmesan, milk is used from cows that ate only fresh grass, hay, grain or cereals.

Grana Padano cheese is produced not only in the Emilia-Romagna region, like parmesan, but also in other regions of Italy, such as Venice, Trentino, Piedmont and Lombardy.

To produce 1 kg of Parmigiano-Reggiano, about 16 liters of milk are required, for Grana Padano, about 17 liters.

The most "mature" type of cheese "Grana Padano" ripens up to 18 months, the most mature type of Parmesan "Parmigiano Reggiano stravecchio" matures up to 32 months.

The differences can also be attributed to the fact that Grana Padano cheese is made only from skimmed milk (from which the cream has been skimmed), and Parmesan is made from a mixture of skimmed and whole milk. The rest of the production technologies are similar.

Cheese made outside the region of Italy, from the point of view of the European Union authorities, is not Parmesan and has no right to be called that.

Despite this, there are many Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Lithuanian, Chinese or American versions of Parmesan cheese. They are significantly lower in price, but they do not have the taste of real Parmigiano-Reggiano and do not last as long.

Not everyone can afford to buy an expensive original Parmigiano-Reggiano or even its analogues. Therefore, for recipes where cheese is needed in melted form, you can take Lithuanian Dziugas (Dziugas), Gruyere, Emmental, Swiss, Rokiskis, Belebeevsky belster and other hard and semi-hard cheese varieties. Other types of hard and semi-hard harsh can be found in the article “Types of cheeses. Their use, storage, varieties and taste ”and
This is certainly not Parmesan, but you can use it in everyday cooking.

In dishes where cheese does not melt Parmesan, you can replace only Grana Padano, otherwise “all the salt” of the recipe will be lost.

The video below shows Russian parmesan and Oleg Sirota's cheese dairy.

The video shows production technologies and plans for the distribution of Russian parmesan and other cheeses during the period of sanctions and import substitution.

Be warned, there are political themes in the video!

Origin of Parmesan cheese - Parmigiano-Reggiano

The emergence of Parmesan dates back to the 12th century. Presumably, it was based on a recipe for making hard cheese, which was produced in Lodi.

In the 14th century, Parmesan is mentioned by the Italian writer Giovanni Boccacho. In one of the short stories of the book "Decameron" there was a place "Live-lakomo", about which it was written: "... there is a mountain there all of grated parmesan, on which people live and do nothing else, as soon as they cook pasta and dumplings, boil them in a decoction of capons and thrown down. "

In the 12th century, special cheese-making houses were built in the Parma region to process excess milk.

The farms of large monasteries and castles needed a product with a long shelf life. So on the lands located between the Apennine Mountains and the Po River, a hard granular cheese appeared, which is stored longer than all other cheeses.

The first cheese dairies appeared near the Benedictine monasteries of St. John and the monastery of St. Prosper in Reggio. A little later, Parmesan began to be produced near the Monastery of St. Martin in Valseren and the Monastery of Fontevivo.

The large farms of the monasteries had at their disposal a sufficient number of livestock, large fields and plenty of water.

The city of Salsomaggiore Terme played a key role in the production of cheese and parmesan.

Salt was mined in it and transported to monasteries and throughout the region.

Soon, parmesan steel is being produced in neighboring regions, for example, in Modena, Bologna and Mantua.

Traditionally, milk for the production of Parmesan was taken from cows of the Red Regian breed.

Their milk is of high quality. However, the amount of milk from one cow was small.

Since the 20th century, milk from Frisonian cows has been used for the production of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

Their milk is inferior in quality, but surpasses the volume of the Regjan cows by almost 2 times.

How and where is real Parmesan made - Parmigiano-Reggiano

Parmigiano-Reggiano can only be called the cheese that is made in the Emilia-Romagna region, namely in the provinces of Bologna (Italian Bologna), Modena (Italian Modena), Parma (Italian Parma), Reggio Emilia (Italian Reggio Emilia ) and on the left bank of the Reno, Mantua (Italian Mantova), and the right Po river.

Hard cheese produced elsewhere cannot be called true Parmesan.

For 9 centuries, the process and production features have not changed. Cheese is still made by hand, just like in the Renaissance.

Parmesan production starts annually on April 1st and ends on November 11th. The cheese is then left to mature for 1 to 3 years.

Some facts from the official site of Parmigiano Reggiano:

In 2015, more than 330 tons of Parmesan was produced in total. Almost 47 thousand tons were exported.

In the same 2015, 353 dairy farms supplied milk to the cheese dairy, with a total of about 245 thousand cows.

The volume of milk used for the production of Parmesan is equal to 15% of the total milk production in Italy.

The production chain employs about 50 thousand people.

Estimated production turnover for the full year 2014 € 983 million.

Let's move on from the facts to the fact how real parmesan is made.

Parmesan production starts with the best milk. The cows to be given milk for cheese graze on special pastures and consume only fresh grass, hay, cereals or grain.

Silage and fermented feed, as well as animal products in any form, are excluded in animal nutrition. Every day a batch of milk is checked for the presence of antibacterial substances.

The Parmesan preparation process begins with the evening milk, which is defended overnight to reduce fat content, mixed with a small amount of fresh morning milk and heated.

The heated milk is injected with whey, consisting of natural enzymes, which was obtained from the whey sediment of the previous day. The process of mixing and further heat treatment of milk is carried out in a copper kettle.

When the milk is brought to 55-58 ° C, rennet is added to the kettle, after which the milk immediately begins to curdle and thicken, turning into a jelly-like mass.

With a special device, which looks like a whisk and is called "spin", milk is divided into small granules within 40-50 minutes, which subsequently settle at the bottom of the boiler.

After that, the liquid is removed and only curd granules remain. The smaller they are, the harder the future Parmesan will be.

The cheese mass is removed from the copper kettle by hand using a cloth.

The cheese mass is suspended for an hour to remove the remaining moisture and then it is divided into several parts. Each weighs about 50-60 kg.

From these parts, in the future, Parmesan heads will be made, which after ripening will weigh 37-40 kg.

In the next step, the separated curd masses are transferred into special steel molds called "fascera".

The diameter of the finished cheese heads varies from 35 to 45 cm.

After that, the cheese is sent to a room with a temperature not higher than 22 ° C for further preparation.

After 2-3 days, a stencil with special insignia is applied to the formed parmesan heads on the sides: the name "Parmigiano Reggiano", marking with the indication of the territory, the code with the date of production and the stamp of the cheese dairy.

All this helps to determine when buying that in front of you is not a fake, but a real "Parmigiano-Reggiano".

The next step is to prepare the cheese for ripening.

For the first 3 days, the Parmesan is in a mold that is turned over every 3 hours.

After this procedure, the heads of cheese are placed in a solution of water and salt for 20-25 days. During this time, the cheese is also turned over so that the parmesan is evenly saturated with salt.

After this stage, the parmesan heads are transferred to a room with a temperature of 35-37 ° C, making the cheese "sweat".

At this temperature, unnecessary water evaporates from the head.

The final stage is the ripening of the parmesan.

Formed and already strong heads are placed in a special cheese storage, with a constant temperature and humidity.

The cheese molds are placed on long and wide wooden racks. Every week these shelves are cleaned and the cheese is periodically turned over by hand or by machine.

The cheese will ripen for 12 to 36 months. Basically, 2 years are considered sufficient exposure.

During aging, Parmesan will be filled with its unique aroma and rich taste.

After a year of maturation, each piece of cheese is subjected to a thorough quality check.

Cheese master, tapping on the head with a small hammer, determines the even distribution of salt along the texture, the density of the cheese, the absence of air inside and compliance with standards.

If Parmesan is rejected by the master, then such cheese is removed to the side and branded with a tag.

This parmesan will also be on sale, but with the mark "young cheese with a small aging".

Parmesan, which has been approved, is aged for at least another year and is branded with the DOP quality mark (Denominazione di Origine Protetta, translated from Italian. "Protected name of origin").

This means that the quality and flavor characteristics of a product are wholly or mostly due to the geographical area in which it is produced and processed.

An oval mark with the inscription “Parmigiano-Reggiano Consorzio Tutela” is also applied to the cheese that has passed the test.

They also indicate the year of production and put a special marking with a code for quick reading of information about the head of cheese.

The production itself is certified by the "Quality Control Department".

In the selection process parmesan is divided into 2 categories:

• Parmigiano-Reggiano

This cheese withstands a long ripening period (at least 24 months). The appearance, structure and aroma fully correspond to the characteristics of a real Parmigiano-Reggiano.

At the request of the owner of the cheese, re-check the parmesan for compliance with the standards, but not less than 18 months of ripening.

After the Parmesan passes this test, it is labeled "aged cheese" EXTRA or EXPORT.

• Parmigiano-Reggiano Mezzano

This cheese is sent to store shelves after 12 months of maturation. This young Parmesan is marked with indelible parallel grooves that are imprinted on its lateral side.