When I published my last post about eating my way through 72 hours in Bologna, I mentioned that there were plenty of things to do in the city beyond dining. While that’s true, let’s face it: Bologna is the gastronomic capital of Italy, so spending an entire weekend stuffing your face is perfectly acceptable. But if you’re interested in the history behind the Emilia-Romagna region’s culinary traditions and the hard work it takes to produce some of the most popular Italian food ingredients, a Parma Golosa food tour is the best way to do just that.
The day after we arrived in Bologna, I dragged our group out of bed bright and early to make our way to the outskirts of Parma for a day of learning about the process behind our favorite foods. First up: a tour of a Parmigiano-Reggiano dairy. We had to wake up so early because the parmesan cheese-making process begins first thing in the morning, right after the cows are milked.
Road trip with my friend Angela, who is from Perugia!
In order to enter the dairy, we had to don these super chic outfits.
The effort it takes to produce a wheel of cheese that lives up to the Parmigiano-Reggiano standards is intense. This is NOT your typical shaker cheese! Our guide, Riccardo, explained that not many Italians are interested in learning the rigorous process any more, and it’s mostly done by immigrants. An interesting tidbit given that the end product is such an iconic Italian staple!
So how exactly does this process work? At night, milk from the evening is left in large vats, where its fatty part rises to the surface. First thing the next day, whole milk from the morning is poured in with the now skim evening milk. The dairy workers add whey and natural calf rennet, causing the milk to curdle. They break up the curd with a tool called a spiro, eventually causing a single mass of cheese to form at the bottom of the vat. The cheese mass is cut in half, wrapped in cloth and put into a mold that will give it its round shape.
Each piece of cheese is branded and given a special registration number that serves as an identity card, one way Parmigiano-Reggiano ensures authenticity. Riccardo went into great detail about how you can tell when and where each cheese wheel was produced. He explained that depending on the age, a wheel can be worth thousands and there have actually been a number of situations where they are stolen and sold on the black market!
The next step is soaking the cheese wheels in water and salt, which takes almost 20 days. Once removed from the water, maturation begins. Rows upon rows of cheese can be found in the back of the dairy in cool, quiet storage rooms, were they’ll sit for a minimum of 12 months. During this part we actually got the chance to meet the owner of the dairy, an older Italian man who told Riccardo in Italian that he mostly just hangs out now while his sons run things.
So after 12 months, you’d think this cheese is ready to go, right? Wrong! Experts from the dairy consortium come and inspect each wheel, one by one. They use a small hammer tool to tap the cheese, and are skilled in reading the resulting noise to determine if the cheese passes the test. Once verified, a wheel is fire-branded. If it’s not up to snuff, all branded marks are crossed out and it’s sold as a cheaper product (not that I could tell the difference!).
The cheap stuff.
The good stuff.
After the tour, we had the chance to taste pieces of cheese at different stages of maturation (the best part, obviously!). Fun fact: did you know Parmigiano-Reggiano is lactose free? That means if you’re lactose intolerant, you can still enjoy this delicious cheese.
The next stop on our tour was the facility where prosciutto di Parma is made. Compared to the dairy tour, this one was quick and easy – the process is much simpler! However, it was still interesting to hear about how this area is the only place where genuine Parma Ham can be produced using select Italian pigs. The process only takes four ingredients: a pork leg, salt to preserve the meat, air to dry it out, and just like the cheese, at least 12 months until it matures to perfect flavor.
It was time for another tasting: right down the road was a winery with an on-site restaurant, which I’m sure in the summer is a gorgeous place to soak up the sun. Sadly for us in March, we were stuck indoors. They served us wine, prosciutto and more Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (of course!).
After all that, can you guess what we did next? We went out to lunch, of course. I wanted to check out the city of Parma since we were so close by, and Riccardo offered to lead us there in his car. He was so nice that he even showed us an affordable garage to park in and walked us toward an area filled with restaurants. When asked where he liked to eat, though, he told us he doesn’t go out – he eats what his mom makes him! We learned that he is a university student giving tours as a side job. I have to say, it was a much more impressive gig than the ones I had in my college days (hostessing at Bertucci’s and selling hippie girl outfits at Free People).
We took a brief walk around the city, which was very quaint, before stopping for lunch at Sorelle Picchi, a restaurant serving cuisine typical of the Emilia-Romagna region and probably the next best thing to Riccardo’s moms house. I took the chance to try one of the most popular local dishes, tortellini en brodo, aka tortellini soup, for the first time. And yes, I added more parmesan cheese!
After lunch we couldn’t resist stopping for gelato at Emilia Cremeria, possibly the cutest place ever. Have I mentioned that calories don’t count in Italy?
Our day trip to Parma and its surrounding dairy and ham factories was a fun way to learn about Italian food, especially as we were literally the only tourists everywhere we went. Usually organized tours are not my jam, but in this case the guide was super informative and being with a small group was key. Moral of the story… Italy in the off season is the way to go!
*We rented a car from Bologna to visit Parma, it cost $98 for the day including a surcharge for having an under 26 driver!
*The Parma Golosa tour prices start at around 30 euros per person and depend on the size of your group (more expensive for smaller groups). While it is possible to visit some of these places on your own, I decided to go with a tour company after much research as it seemed like we’d get the best experience with minimal time spent trying to take trains/call taxis/etc. Our guide was very friendly and informative and this was a highlight of our trip to Italy!
*I visited Bologna for three nights (72 hours) in March 2015.
*My flight from New York to Milan was $550 USD round trip on AirBerlin, thanks to a Black Friday sale.
*I was a guest of Starhotels Excelsior while I was in Bologna, and room rates there start around a reasonable $115 per night. The hotel is really nice with king size beds, and is located directly across from the train station.
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The post Ham & Cheese, Please! Behind the Scenes with Parmigiano-Reggiano and Prosciutto di Parma in Emilia-Romagna appeared first on The Blonde Banana.