The food tour - Modena, Italy
Modena, Italy
Wow! Here I am after the most amazing tour yet. We were picked up this morning at 7:00 am by Fabrizio and driven in a Mercedes van to a Parmiggiana Reggiano cheese factory. I now know more about this cheese than I ever thought possible. So much fun, such great people. If you come to Bologna, you must look up Alessandro Martini, the owner and creator of Italian Days Food Experience. We watched the birth of the cheese, learned about the markings on the cheese, and tasted "new" cheese vs "old" cheese. Bought some of both, of course!! Off to the balsamic vinegar farmhouse. Since the family is very rich, they produce a small amount of vinegar as a hobby. It takes a minimum of 12 years to make real, DOP approved balsamic vinegar Di Modena. We tasted the difference between 12 year and 25 year old vinegars. Didn't buy the 150€ bottle of balsamic. Next stop, prosciutto plant. Again, DOP stamp. I'm going to make every deli show me the stamp, the date, and the age of my prosciutto. After tasting and more wine, did I mention the wine at stop 1?, we headed to lunch. OMG, a light lunch, as Alessandro described it, was at an organic Agriturismo near Bologna. We all sat under a pergola (12 people), and started with sparkling white wine and salad. We moved onto fresh pasta with red wine, or white wine without "fizz". Then another pasta with béchamel cheese, with red wine, pasta with truffles (no thank you, it's a funghi!) and red wine, vegetables, steak, more red wine!! Dessert , Grappa, Noiccino ( green walnut wine), and a drive back to Bologna. I just woke up from an food/alcohol coma!!