Parmesan is one of the oldest cheeses in the world and is still produced in the same way as it was nine centuries ago. It takes 16 litres of milk to produce 1 kg of cheese and 270,000 cows in the region are milked twice a day. Each Parmigiano Reggiano wheel requires 600 litres of milk. There are ten stages of production:
- Semi-skimmed milk, from the evening milking, is mixed with whole milk from the morning milking and poured into copper cauldrons.
- The milk is warmed and natural Whey is introduced.
- Rennet from the stomachs of suckling calves is then added and the milk curdles.
- The curds are broken down into small granules with a huge balloon whisk called a “Spino”.
- The cauldron is heated to expel water from the curd granules, and they sink to the bottom forming a compact mass.
- This cheese mass is then divided into two.
- Each part is placed in a special mould where it stays for 2 to 3 days. At this stage the cheese has a consistency and flavour similar to Mozzarella.
- The cheese is then immersed in brine where salt is absorbed. This flavours the cheese and permits long ageing.
- After 20 days the cheese is removed from the salt and dried. Now the ageing starts. It has to last a minimum of 12 months and can be as long as 30 months.
- The cheese is inspected for appearance, structure and characteristics and a certification mark is fire-branded on the rind.
To give consumers clear information about the strength of the cheese, a red seal denotes ageing longer than 18 months, a silver seal longer than 22 months and a gold seal longer than 30 months. As it ages the cheese becomes drier and crumblier and its flavour develops.
Roman Writer, Cato, Mentions Prosciutto di Parma 2000 Years Ago
- Parma Ham comes from 9-month-old pigs, weighing a minimum of 150 kilos and bred in 11 northern and central Italian regions. Only castrated males from the Large White, Landrace and Duroc Breeds are used and production follows 10 stages:
- Each pig fasts for 15 hours before slaughter.
- The legs are cut and placed in cold storage for 24 hours to get rid of excess liquid.
- Some fat and skin are then removed to give the ham its typical round “chicken leg” shape.
- Salting is carried out using humid salt for the skin and dry salt for the muscular parts. The legs spend a week in a cold store before this salt is removed and another layer of thinner salt is added. They’re hung for two weeks and the leg slowly assimilates the salt and loses humidity.
- After removing the salt the legs are “rested” for 60-70 days where they lose around 10% of their weight.
- The hams are then washed with warm water to eliminate excess salt and impurities and left to dry for a week.
- Next they are hung on special wooden frames called “Scalere” and placed in large rooms with windows for 3 months.
- The hams are then beaten to improve their shape and both the cavity round the bare part of the bone and the uncovered muscular mass are covered with a mixture of lard, salt, pepper and ground rice. This greasing softens the muscle layers to prevent the surface drying out too quickly.
- In the 7th month they are transferred to cellars and kept in the dark for a minimum of 12 months. The hams are constantly monitored by inserting a horse bone needle into different parts of the ham and smelling the results.
- At the end of the ageing period, the ham has lost around 30% of its weight and is fire-branded with the official stamp of certification
Tasting 12, 18 and 24 Month Parma Ham and Parmesan
There's a simple way to spot the age of both the ham and cheese – the stronger the colour, the older the product. The Parmesan gets noticeably stronger as it ages, the texture becomes more grainy and the salt is more pronounced. The taste of the Parma Ham is more subtle and it's difficult to define what makes the older ham tastier. What's certain is that the maturing process brings out the best in these products.
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