November 13, 2015

The Three Kings

No we’re not singing the Christmas carol, we’re in Parma.  This is a big day just to show we’re not quitters.  We actually set the alarm this morning and we’re cleaned up and ready to go for breakfast at 8:00.  Since we were the only room last night Elena is handling the breakfast by herself this morning.  We have cereal, yogurt, some fruity things with honey and then Elena whips up some perfect scrambled eggs with cheese and prosciutto on the side.  She also squeezes fresh orange juice and makes a perfect cup of Café Americano.  We chat for a while.  She loves the Americans, Canadians, Brits, Danes and Aussies; she likes the Swedes, Norwegians and Belgians; she tolerates the Germans and other eastern Europeans; she hates the French and Russians.  Good to know.

We are in our little Pulsar zooming around Parma for our first event at Caseificio Baganzolino.  We have a meet scheduled at 9:15 with our guide for the day Alice Rossi.  She is picking up two other Americans (David and Danielle from Oklahoma City) and runs a few minutes late but no problem.  This is a producer of Parmigiano Reggiano, the king of all cheeses according to many and certainly to everyone in this part of the world.  Today and tomorrow we will explore many aspects of why this little area is such a big contributor to the food world.

Alice seems like everyone’s best friend as we get geared up in sanitary garb and march into the production facility.  She also knows every step of the production process in detail to the point that we believe she must have worked there at some point in time.  There are 8 cookers going this morning that raise and lower the temperature at just the right levels at just the right time.  Each vat holds 350 gallons of milk, half from last night that sat at room temperature overnight to begin the bacteria process and the other half fresh this morning.  Each vat will yield 2 wheels of cheese, each weighing 40 kilos (88 lbs).  The cheese is harvested from the vat while the whey is drained away for other uses and a small amount is kept as a starter for tomorrow’s batch.

The wheels are labeled, weighted and formed with a wooden mold to take the right shape overnight.  Tomorrow starts the next phase of the aging process as they are moved into different molds that imprint the name of the producer and the indications that this is Parmigiano Reggiano.  After about 20 days they get a salt bath then are moved to a permanent storage warehouse for the aging process that will last from 12 to 36 months. On a rotating basis they have a machine that picks up each wheel, wipes it down to keep the mold to a minimum and then flips it over.  At 12 months they are tested by the local consortium to see if they measure up to the standards that have been in existence for a thousand years and if they pass (about 95% do) they can be sold as the real deal.  The tester actually uses a small hammer to tap every wheel in different spots to make sure that there are no hollow sounding spots which would indicate an air bubble. If they don’t pass the rinds are stripped of the imprinted designation and they are usually grated into some sort of table cheese.  It is a fascinating process and Mary, who has been dreading this day, is enthralled.  We actually get to see every step of the process from heating the milk to harvesting and molding the cheese—great experience.  And we get to taste the 12 month and 30 month in the tasting room after the tour.  It does get stronger as it ages and Alice suggests that the 24 month is always a good compromise.  They are selling the 24 month here for about 15 euros per kilo or less than $8 a pound.  At Lund’s it is $25 a pound—wish we could bring home a suitcase full.  One King down.

Next is the king of vinegar, balsamic.  This is not the stuff you buy at the grocery store to cook with.  It is the traditional method that is aged for a minimum of 12 years and as much as 25 or more.  The winery we visit is Medici Ermete run by Allesandra Medici (descendent of the historical Medici family) in Emilia Reggio between Parma and Modena, the city most often associated with balsamic.  They start with a red wine that has been evaporated down by 75% forming a must.  The must is then introduced to a “battery” which is a series of a minimum of five barrels ranging in size from 3 liters to about 10 gallons.  Each barrel has a square hole in the top covered with a cloth to allow it to evaporate.  Through natural heating and cooling within the aging rooms, the must will evaporate and when it loses 20% of its volume it is topped off from the next larger barrel over and more new must is added to the largest barrel on the end. 

This process is repeated as mentioned for a minimum of 12 years which is the earliest it can be submitted to the balsamic consortium for approval.  Very few get approved at 12 years, it usually takes longer to get them just right.  Alice tells us that in these family productions a new battery is started with the birth of a child.  The room we are in has a battery still producing that started with the birth of Allesandra’s grandfather back in 1906, as well as batteries from the managing partners now that date to the 1960’s.  Again, fascinating.  We get tastes from Allesandra of the 12 year (red), the 20 year (silver) and the 25+ year (gold).  Alice says it is her drug of choice and we agree.  They sell the 12 year in small containers (a cup) for $45 and the price goes up from there.  Of course it is served in a tiny amount with a sampling of Parmigiano Reggiano.  This balsamic is our second King.

Now we head for the hills.  We stop for lunch at a little roadside trattoria that is waiting for us.  Alice has her regular route and these folks prepare a lunch that allows those on the tour to have a meal of the local products.  We have been so overfed lately that we split the pre-ordered lunch and that is plenty for us.  We get to chat a bit.  When Alice graduated from college she went to work for Barrilla, the big pasta maker.  Her job was to help local tour guides understand the local foods to make them better equipped to spread the word of local specialty foods.  She would also help arrange the tours for visitors to the area.  After a while it seemed like a good idea that instead of teaching the tour operators she should be one herself.  She is in her second year and says business is booming.  We find out as we go that this is her passion and she knows every little detail and every worker at all of these plants.

David and Danielle are on a teaching assignment in Vienna.  He teaches at a Christian College in OKC and they are shepherding 37 students in two cycles through Vienna as well as scheduling side trips for the kids.  They are good foodies and we are glad that we got to join up with this group.

Now it is a precarious drive up into the hills northwest of Parma.  The windy road leads to the top of a hill where we can look down into the valley and a number of miles across to the next range of hills.  This is the valley of Prosciutto di Parma.  Prosciutto is a cured ham and is made in different regions around Italy and is similar to the Iberico Ham from Spain.  This valley is blessed by a steady breeze that comes shooting through these rows of hills all the way from the west coast and the breeze is the key factor in how the ham is dried and processed.  This valley hosts dozens of Prosciutto di Parma producers and together they cure 9 million hams per year.  That’s a lot of hogs and most are imported from an area north of here to very demanding specifications.  If hogs from other European countries are used they cannot get the “di Parma” classification.

We gear up again with our sanitary attire and get right into a pile of raw hind legs (the only part of the pig used for Prosciutto di Parma).  One fellow is tossing them onto a conveyer belt that first brands them with the logo of this producer and then on to a massaging process that gives them a good rubdown.  They pop out the other end where three guys are waiting to salt the exterior of the ham.  Their specialty is knowing how much salt to put on which part of the ham to make it perfect.  The hams are then loaded onto an overhead-suspended storage rack which is pushed on a track into one of the waiting coolers.  This begins the aging process.  As the hams age and dry, the meat around the bone begins to shrink and is constantly trimmed to make sure there are no air gaps that would spoil the meat.  Next it is moved upstairs to the drying room where the windows can be opened to allow the famous Parma breeze to do its work.  Most of the ham is covered with a natural fat layer, but where is was severed in the butchering process it is now manually covered with a layer of 99% lard.  The other 1% is a mixture of black pepper and other spice flavoring that is unique to this producer.  The black pepper acts as an aerator to allow a tiny bit of evaporation at each spot of pepper to continue the drying process.

The hams are eventually hung in the drying warehouse where they are dated and at some point graded, once again, by the consortium of local growers.  The graders will show up every few months and grade all of the hams that have been aged for at least 11 or as much as 13 months.  They use a sharpened piece of horse bone because it is porous, insert it into the ham at specific points and then sniff.  If it passes it gets the stamp of the consortium and is officially Prosciutto di Parma.  Once it passes the test the producer decides on whether it needs more aging or if it is ready.  The larger the ham the more aging required to become buttery melt-in-your-mouth tender.  Alice says with this audience around here, they wouldn’t dare sell a ham that wasn’t perfect.  Prosciutto di Parma is King number 3.

The fog has settled in big time and so has darkness.  We have to hustle to get home while we can still find it.  We have already missed our nap time for today so we’ll have to tough it out and have an early night.

We return again to Mora for dinner and the owner is ready for us.  We get the cheese plate again, especially appreciating the Parmigiano Reggiano along with the puffy bread product (torte frito).  John has the stuffed veal which is a slice of veal roast stuffed with a seasoned corn meal mixture and mashed potatoes on the side.  Mary has the tortellini with a Bolognese sauce.  Both are good and we’re stuffed again.  We feel our way through the fog back to the house and crash.  We won’t find out until tomorrow about the attacks in Paris.

What did we learn today?  We think finding out more about things in our daily lives (food) is more interesting than finding out more about 16^th century art.