Parmesan
Parmesan is an Italian hard, granular cheese produced from cow's milk and aged at least 12 months. It is a grana-type cheese, along with Grana Padano, the historic, and others.
The term Parmesan may refer to either Parmigiano Reggiano or, when outside the European Union and Lisbon Agreement countries, a locally produced imitation.
Parmigiano Reggiano is named after two of the areas which produce it, the Italian provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia ; it is also produced in the part of Bologna west of the River Reno and in Modena, as well as in the part of Mantua on the south bank of the River Po.
The names Parmigiano Reggiano and Parmesan are protected designations of origin for cheeses produced in these provinces under Italian and European law. Outside the EU, the name Parmesan is legally used for imitations, with only the full Italian name unambiguously referring to PDO Parmigiano Reggiano. A 2021 press release by the Italian farmer-rancher association Coldiretti reported that, in the United States, 90% of "Italian sounding" cheese sold as parmesan, mozzarella, grana, and gorgonzola was produced domestically.
Parmigiano Reggiano, among others, has been called "king of cheeses".
Definitions
The name Parmigiano is legally protected in the European Union and, in Italy, exclusive control is exercised over the cheese's production and sale by The Consortium of Parmigiano Reggiano, which was created by a governmental decree. Each wheel must meet strict criteria early in the aging process, when the cheese is still soft and creamy, to merit the official seal and be placed in storage for aging.Because it is widely imitated, Parmigiano Reggiano has become an increasingly regulated product, and in 1955 it became what is known as a certified name. In 2008, an EU court determined that the name Parmesan in Europe only refers to Parmigiano Reggiano and cannot be used for imitation Parmesan. Thus, in the European Union, Parmigiano Reggiano is a protected designation of origin ; legally, the name refers exclusively to the Parmigiano Reggiano PDO cheese manufactured in a limited area in northern Italy.
Special seals identify the product as authentic, with the identification number of the dairy, the production month and year, a code identifying the individual wheel, and stamps regarding the length of aging.
Name
The English name parmesan is borrowed from French parmesan, earlier parmisan, in turn borrowed from Italian parmigiano. In French, it is first attested as a name for the cheese in 1414, and in English, in 1519. The regular English pronunciation is but in US English it is often pronounced as the "hyper-French", using the French sound /ʒ/ to represent the Italian sound /dʒ/.Industry
All producers of Parmigiano Reggiano belong to the Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano, which was founded in 1928. Besides setting and enforcing the standards for the PDO, the Consorzio also sponsors marketing activities., about 3.6 million wheels of Parmesan are produced every year; they use about 18% of all the milk produced in Italy.
Most workers in the Italian dairy industry belong to the Italian General Confederation of Labour. In an effort to suppress wage growth and disenfranchise the native citizenry, immigrants have filled that role. In 2015, 60 percent of the workers in the Parmesan industry were immigrants from India, almost all Sikhs.
Production
Parmigiano Reggiano is made from unpasteurised cow's milk. The whole milk of the morning milking is mixed with the naturally skimmed milk of the previous evening's milking, resulting in a part skim mixture. This mixture is pumped into copper-lined vats, which heat evenly and contribute copper ions to the mix.Starter whey is added, and the temperature is raised to. Calf rennet is added, and the mixture is left to curdle for 10–12 minutes. The curd is then broken up mechanically into small pieces. The temperature is then raised to with careful control by the cheese-maker. The curd is left to settle for 45–60 minutes. The compacted curd is collected in a piece of muslin before being divided in two and placed in molds. There are of milk per vat, producing two cheeses each. The curd making up each wheel at this point weighs around. The remaining whey in the vat was traditionally used to feed the pigs from which prosciutto di Parma was produced. The barns for these animals were usually just a few metres away from the cheese production rooms.
The cheese is put into a stainless steel, round form that is pulled tight with a spring-powered buckle so the cheese retains its wheel shape. After a day or two, the buckle is released and a plastic belt imprinted numerous times with the Parmigiano Reggiano name, the plant's number, and month and year of production is put around the cheese, and the metal form is buckled tight again. The imprints take hold on the rind of the cheese in about a day and the wheel is then put into a brine bath to absorb salt for 20–25 days. After brining, the wheels are then transferred to the aging rooms in the plant for 12 months. Each cheese is placed on wooden shelves that can be 24 cheeses high by 90 cheeses long or 2,160 total wheels per aisle. Each cheese and the shelf underneath it is then cleaned every seven days, and the cheese is turned.
At 12 months, the Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano inspects every wheel. The cheese is tested by one of the country's 25 master graders, known as battitore, who taps each wheel with a small hammer to identify undesirable cracks and voids within the wheel, a process that takes about six or seven seconds. There are three grading categories. Wheels in the top category are heat-branded on the rind with the Consorzio's logo. Those in the second tier bear the mark but have their rinds marked with lines or crosses all the way around to inform consumers that they are not getting top-quality Parmigiano Reggiano. Cheese in the third category is simply stripped of all rind markings.
Traditionally cows are fed only on grass or hay, producing grass-fed milk. Only natural whey culture is allowed as a starter, together with calf rennet.
The only additive allowed is salt, which the cheese absorbs while being submerged for 20 days in brine tanks saturated to near-total salinity with Mediterranean sea salt. The product ages for a minimum of one year and an average of two years; an expert from the Consorzio typically conducts a sound test with a hammer to determine if a wheel has finished maturing.
A typical Parmigiano Reggiano wheel is about high, in diameter, and weighs.
Consumption
Parmigiano Reggiano is commonly grated over pasta dishes, stirred into soups and risottos, and eaten on its own. It is often shaved or grated over other dishes such as salads. Slivers and chunks of the hardest parts of the crust are sometimes simmered in soups, broths, and sauces to add flavor. They can also be broiled and eaten as a snack if they have no wax on them, or infused in olive oil or used in a steamer basket while steaming vegetables.History
According to legend, Parmigiano Reggiano was created in the course of the Middle Ages in the comune of Bibbiano, in the province of Reggio Emilia. Its production soon spread to the Parma and Modena areas. Historical documents show that in the 13th and 14th centuries, Parmigiano Reggiano was already very similar to that produced today, which suggests its origins can be traced to far earlier. Some evidence suggests that the name was used in Italy and France in the 17th-19th century. The earliest written record of this cheese is from the year 1254.It was praised as early as 1348 in the writings of Boccaccio; in the Decameron, he invents a "mountain, all of grated Parmesan cheese", on which "dwell folk that do nought else but make macaroni and ravioli, and boil them in capon's broth, and then throw them down to be scrambled for; and hard by flows a rivulet of Vernaccia, the best that ever was drunk, and never a drop of water therein".
During the Great Fire of London of 1666, Samuel Pepys buried his "Parmazan cheese, as well as his wine and some other things" to preserve them.
In the memoirs of Giacomo Casanova, he remarked that the name Parmesan was a misnomer common throughout an "ungrateful" Europe in his time, as the cheese was produced in the comune of Lodi, in Lombardy, not Parma.
The industrialization and subsequent standardization of Parmesan production in the 19th and 20th centuries have reduced the heterogeneity in its sensory characteristics, but the key characteristics: hardness, sharpness, aroma, saltiness, and savoriness have remained.
Original texture
and others have claimed that early Parmesan was softer and fattier, with a black rind resembling the Wisconsin version. However, it is well documented that it has been consistently dry, hard, and grainy since the 15th century.Society and culture
Parmigiano Reggiano has been the target of organized crime in Italy, particularly the Mafia or Camorra, which ambush delivery trucks on the Autostrada A1, in northern Italy, between Milan and Bologna, hijacking shipments. The cheese is ultimately sold in southern Italy. Between November 2013 and January 2015, an organised crime gang stole 2,039 wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano from warehouses in northern and central Italy. Some banks accept Parmesan cheese as collateral for a loan.October 27 is designated "Parmigiano Reggiano Day" by The Consortium of Parmigiano Reggiano. This day celebrating the "king of cheeses" originated in response to the two earthquakes hitting the area of origin in May 2012. The devastation was profound, displacing tens of thousands of residents, collapsing factories, and damaging historical churches, bell towers, and other landmarks. Years of cheese production were lost during the disaster, about $50 million worth. To assist the cheese producers, Modena native chef Massimo Bottura created the recipe riso cacio e pepe. He invited the world to cook this new dish along with him launching "Parmigiano Reggiano Day"—October 27.