How Parmesan's made
The History of Parmesan Cheese Production
Parmesan is one of a category of cheeses called grana due of their grainy texture & they are made throughout the North of Italy and many battles were fought over whose grana was the most prestigious. Cheeses made around Parma and Reggio in Emilia Romagna eventually won, with those from other regions assembled under the name of Grana Padano, named after the Po river valley.
Despite its popularity, production of the cheese remained small until around 1894 when it accelerated as dairy farmers formed more efficient cooperatives and improving transport links, saw Parmesan exported to Austria, Hungary, France and the United States.
The first milk inspection office was established in 1910 in Reggio Emilia, in order to "promote the sale of milk and to guarantee its quality; to examine the milk with regards to its suitability for the production of cheese; to give an identity to Parmigiano Reggiano and to protect it from imitations, as well as to promote and support any initiative for the defence and the improvement of the dairy industry of Reggio".
World War 1 seriously damaged the agrarian economy, particularly the dairy sector and the post war years were ones of struggle not helped by the production of Reggianito cheese, a cheap Argentinian imitation that flooded Parmesan’s potential export markets. The ancient rivalry between the towns of Parma and Reggio also prevented proper progress in the industry. In fact, the territory of Reggio enjoyed superior productivity and quality but the name of the town of Parma linked it by a centuries-old tradition to the cheese.
In 1934, the creation of the Parmesan Consorzio in Reggio was formed to put an end to the age old disagreements.
The Consorzio
To this day the Consorzio oversees the strict rules governing the zones of cheese production in Emilia Romagna, the cheese making process and animal management.
Each Parmesan dairy is a paying member of the consortium who issues them with their own identifying number. In order to sell their cheese as Parmesan, every Parmesan wheel has to be tested after 12 months by one of the Consorzio inspectors who, by tapping the cheese, can tell if the internal structure is correct. The cheese is then pierced with a screw-needle to extract a small sample & the resistance of the cheese indicates its internal consistency and the sample enables the inspector to judge the aroma and degree of maturation.
If approved, the wheel is branded with the Consorzio’s seal. If it has a number of minor flaws it will be ringed with horizontal lines and cannot be sold after 24 months. If there are major faults, the cheese has its top layer of rind completely removed to ensure that it cannot be sold in pieces. Instead, it is used in cartons of grated Parmesan or made into cheese spread.
Since 1945 the number of Parmesan dairies has declined from about 2356 to 550, as cheese making has become increasingly concentrated in cooperatives. Until 1984 Parmesan could only be made during the cow’s normal lactation period, in the warm months when they ate fresh green grass after calving. The smaller amount of winter milk was used to make vernengo, a fresher type of cheese to be sold as immature and at lesser price.
New technology and state of the art farming, however, has made it possible for milk yields to be kept stable and since 1984, the decision to allow Parmesan to be made year round means that production has stabilised at around 2.9 million wheels a year.
Among these 2.9 million wheels there is a huge range in quality, but the Consorzio, who promote the industry as a whole, is reluctant to favour one dairy over another. Finding the perfect Parmesan thus involves much travelling around the Apennine Mountains, watching the magical process of turning 600 litres of milk into a wheel of Parmesan, touring stables, dairies and mountain springs. comparing textures and tastes, colours and smells.
The Ageing Process
Nowadays, many dairies sell their cheeses very young to cheese brokers. Superchina and Iris, however, are two of the very few dairies that age their cheese themselves and their maturing rooms are lined with row after row of neatly stacked wheels which, matured in the Apennine area, retain their unique character. This closed production circle ensures that everybody in the cheese making process, from herdsmen to casaro, feels a connection with the end product.
In the past it was believed that cheeses had to be matured through two summers to reach their best, as it is in the summer heat that enzymatic transformations are at their most intense. It was also common to coat the wheels with a mixture of clay, charcoal and grape-seed oil. This black layer supposedly helped their maturing process when summer temperatures got too high.
Nowadays, the temperature in the maturing rooms is carefully controlled to avoid the cheeses sweating excessively; during the rest of the year temperatures of between 4 and 22C are acceptable.
The cheeses will generally spend 24 months in this room, by when they will have assumed their full and typical characteristic qualities, but some will be kept longer. Parmesan of up to 60 months old is regularly sold in Emilia Romagna, although after 36 months care needs to be taken. If the protein breakdown process is prolonged, the texture of the cheese becomes chalky and soluble, the maturation of the fat can cause the cheese to turn too piquant and the aromas tend to fade.
It is certainly not necessarily the case of “the older the cheese the better”.
Opening The Cheese
First, score a deep line all the way around the rind starting at the top, down the sides, along the bottom and back up the side again; then a serrated knife is plunged into the rind at various points along the line and then one or two almond-shaped blades are used as wedges, forced into the cheese and then left for a short while.
The massive wheel eventually parts naturally, slowly splitting in two along its natural grain to reveal a straw yellow paste dotted with tiny white crystals of amino acid and an amazing, sweet, lactic aroma.
Storing the Cheese
Parmesan has a very low moisture content, so correct storage is vital. It will be happiest in a cool, damp cellar (10C -14C and 80% humidity) but these are hard to find nowadays, so keep it tightly wrapped in wax paper with a layer of either foil or cling film around the outside.
This way the cheese can still breathe, but is kept airtight and should keep in the fridge, as a premium eating cheese, for up to two weeks, then as a grating cheese for a further six weeks.
Finally, whenever you take the cheese out of the fridge to use, try to leave it unwrapped for 15 minutes or so. Any moisture that has been drawn out of the cheese while in the fridge will be reabsorbed, keeping the cheese soft and preventing any mould forming on the cut surface of the cheese.
Now enjoy it!
Parmesan is one of a category of cheeses called grana due of their grainy texture & they are made throughout the North of Italy and many battles were fought over whose grana was the most prestigious. Cheeses made around Parma and Reggio in Emilia Romagna eventually won, with those from other regions assembled under the name of Grana Padano, named after the Po river valley.
Despite its popularity, production of the cheese remained small until around 1894 when it accelerated as dairy farmers formed more efficient cooperatives and improving transport links, saw Parmesan exported to Austria, Hungary, France and the United States.
The first milk inspection office was established in 1910 in Reggio Emilia, in order to "promote the sale of milk and to guarantee its quality; to examine the milk with regards to its suitability for the production of cheese; to give an identity to Parmigiano Reggiano and to protect it from imitations, as well as to promote and support any initiative for the defence and the improvement of the dairy industry of Reggio".
World War 1 seriously damaged the agrarian economy, particularly the dairy sector and the post war years were ones of struggle not helped by the production of Reggianito cheese, a cheap Argentinian imitation that flooded Parmesan’s potential export markets. The ancient rivalry between the towns of Parma and Reggio also prevented proper progress in the industry. In fact, the territory of Reggio enjoyed superior productivity and quality but the name of the town of Parma linked it by a centuries-old tradition to the cheese.
In 1934, the creation of the Parmesan Consorzio in Reggio was formed to put an end to the age old disagreements.
The Consorzio
To this day the Consorzio oversees the strict rules governing the zones of cheese production in Emilia Romagna, the cheese making process and animal management.
Each Parmesan dairy is a paying member of the consortium who issues them with their own identifying number. In order to sell their cheese as Parmesan, every Parmesan wheel has to be tested after 12 months by one of the Consorzio inspectors who, by tapping the cheese, can tell if the internal structure is correct. The cheese is then pierced with a screw-needle to extract a small sample & the resistance of the cheese indicates its internal consistency and the sample enables the inspector to judge the aroma and degree of maturation.
If approved, the wheel is branded with the Consorzio’s seal. If it has a number of minor flaws it will be ringed with horizontal lines and cannot be sold after 24 months. If there are major faults, the cheese has its top layer of rind completely removed to ensure that it cannot be sold in pieces. Instead, it is used in cartons of grated Parmesan or made into cheese spread.
Since 1945 the number of Parmesan dairies has declined from about 2356 to 550, as cheese making has become increasingly concentrated in cooperatives. Until 1984 Parmesan could only be made during the cow’s normal lactation period, in the warm months when they ate fresh green grass after calving. The smaller amount of winter milk was used to make vernengo, a fresher type of cheese to be sold as immature and at lesser price.
New technology and state of the art farming, however, has made it possible for milk yields to be kept stable and since 1984, the decision to allow Parmesan to be made year round means that production has stabilised at around 2.9 million wheels a year.
Among these 2.9 million wheels there is a huge range in quality, but the Consorzio, who promote the industry as a whole, is reluctant to favour one dairy over another. Finding the perfect Parmesan thus involves much travelling around the Apennine Mountains, watching the magical process of turning 600 litres of milk into a wheel of Parmesan, touring stables, dairies and mountain springs. comparing textures and tastes, colours and smells.
The Ageing Process
Nowadays, many dairies sell their cheeses very young to cheese brokers. Superchina and Iris, however, are two of the very few dairies that age their cheese themselves and their maturing rooms are lined with row after row of neatly stacked wheels which, matured in the Apennine area, retain their unique character. This closed production circle ensures that everybody in the cheese making process, from herdsmen to casaro, feels a connection with the end product.
In the past it was believed that cheeses had to be matured through two summers to reach their best, as it is in the summer heat that enzymatic transformations are at their most intense. It was also common to coat the wheels with a mixture of clay, charcoal and grape-seed oil. This black layer supposedly helped their maturing process when summer temperatures got too high.
Nowadays, the temperature in the maturing rooms is carefully controlled to avoid the cheeses sweating excessively; during the rest of the year temperatures of between 4 and 22C are acceptable.
The cheeses will generally spend 24 months in this room, by when they will have assumed their full and typical characteristic qualities, but some will be kept longer. Parmesan of up to 60 months old is regularly sold in Emilia Romagna, although after 36 months care needs to be taken. If the protein breakdown process is prolonged, the texture of the cheese becomes chalky and soluble, the maturation of the fat can cause the cheese to turn too piquant and the aromas tend to fade.
It is certainly not necessarily the case of “the older the cheese the better”.
Opening The Cheese
First, score a deep line all the way around the rind starting at the top, down the sides, along the bottom and back up the side again; then a serrated knife is plunged into the rind at various points along the line and then one or two almond-shaped blades are used as wedges, forced into the cheese and then left for a short while.
The massive wheel eventually parts naturally, slowly splitting in two along its natural grain to reveal a straw yellow paste dotted with tiny white crystals of amino acid and an amazing, sweet, lactic aroma.
Storing the Cheese
Parmesan has a very low moisture content, so correct storage is vital. It will be happiest in a cool, damp cellar (10C -14C and 80% humidity) but these are hard to find nowadays, so keep it tightly wrapped in wax paper with a layer of either foil or cling film around the outside.
This way the cheese can still breathe, but is kept airtight and should keep in the fridge, as a premium eating cheese, for up to two weeks, then as a grating cheese for a further six weeks.
Finally, whenever you take the cheese out of the fridge to use, try to leave it unwrapped for 15 minutes or so. Any moisture that has been drawn out of the cheese while in the fridge will be reabsorbed, keeping the cheese soft and preventing any mould forming on the cut surface of the cheese.
Now enjoy it!