Parmigiano Reggiano Factory Tour

Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan) guided visit to a cheese day.

Emilia Delizia offers detailed Parmigiano Reggiano cheese tours in Modena, Parma and Reggio Emilia. Our tour will begin early in the morning in order to catch as much as possible. Below we tried to reproduce our tour in pictures to give a better idea to people about what they will see when at the Parmesan dairy.

Milk for parmesan cheese — 1000 kg of milk for the parmigiano reggiano cheese production

At the arrival at the dairy we we will see the raw milk sitting in the vats. These large containers "cauldrons" contains 1000 kg of full fat and half milk mixed together. The compound is then acidified and the rennet is added. At this point the milk will turn into a yoghurt like substance.

cheese just made — 2 wheels of parmesan cheese

These are the 2 twins, one is a boy and the other is a girl. Basically these are the curds of the cheese that have been cut and left to rest. From 1000 kilos of milk we obtain 2 45 kilos wheels. Some of the weight is lost during the ageing, and therefore the final product weights approximately 37 kg.

Parmesan cheese just made — The cheese will spend a day in the Teflon mould

The unformed cheese goes into the Teflon mould for one day and one night. The cheese master carefully add a weight on top of the cheese. In order to squeeze our all the liquid the moulds are then turned every couple of hours. In the evening the cheese cloth is removed and the matrix carrying the naming Parmigiano Reggiano is inserted in the mould. Telon is a new material that has replaced the hand made wooden moulds that were originally crafted by hand. httpv://youtu.be/z6M7-THZOeM In the video you can clearly see how the cheese is moved from the vat to the moulds. Our guests will be able to see the full production just meters away form the cheese being made.

metal moulds for the cheese — the parmesan cheese is the metal mould

The cheese goes into the metal mould for another day. These moulds have the shape of the wheel which will not required further manipulation such as the trimming of the edges. The cheese always rest on wooden shelves which allow breathing and the correct ageing.

cheese guided tour — Guided tour to a Parmesan cheese dairy

The wheels then go to a brine bath and stay here for 3 weeks. This is an important step to make hard cheese in fact the high salinity of the water will allow residual moisture to exit thanks to natural osmosis. It is important to keep in mind that Parmesan cheese does not contain any preservative or anti fermentative, therefore it is essential to have the right amount of moisture in the wheels.

ageing Parmesan cheese — visit to the Parmigiano Reggiano maturation cellars

The last part of the visit will be spend in the ageing cellars. Here is the Parmigiano Reggiano is stocked on the traditional shelves for a minima of 12 months. During the visit we will learn how to recognise the real Parmesan cheese from imitation and we will discover the nutritional values of the product.

The culinary traditions of Reggio Emilia

Reggio Emilia is often overlooked by the tourists coming to Emilia Romagna. Reggio Emilia is a medium size town on the Via Emiia situated between Modena and Parma, and it makes the perfect base for the culinary traveller as there are many gourmet foods to be discovered.

Reggio Emilia and Parmesan cheese.

Reggio Emilia is in the cradle of Parmigiano Reggiano. The history of this amazing cheese starts here. Bibbiano has been named the town where the first production started around 900 years ago due to the discovery of the first written accounts of the cheese production. Therefore visiting Reggio Emilia makes perfect sense for those interested in seeing the production of Parmesan cheese.

Traditional balsamic vinegar of Reggio Emilia.

Modena made balsamic vinegar known worldwide but the production of aceto balsamic tradizionale is not restricted to the Modenese province. In the tradition balsamic vinegar was the dowry of young women who would marry and bring the vinegar barrels with them. Due to the close proximity of the two provinces the tradition was also brought in Reggio Emilia. Here it is possible to find more old fashioned producers who make only high quality traditional balsamic vinegar rather than concentrating on industrial vinegar as many do in Modena.

Fresh Egg Pasta: tortelli di zucca.

Of course Reggio Emilia, as all towns in the Emilia Region, produces its own version of fresh egg pasta. One of the most peculiar ones are the Tortelli di Zucca. Sometimes hat or ravioli shaped these parcels are filled with ricotta cheese, parmesan and pumpkin. Some recipes require a hint of crumbled amaretti biscuits in the filling, it is indeed an acquired taste but they can be delicious when topped with melted butter parmesan cheese and a few drops of balsamic vinegar.

A Medieval Pie: Erbazzone.

Erbazzone belongs to the simple farmer's style cuisine. The women in the kitchen had to come up with something filling and tasty so erbazzone is a pastry made with lard and flour with a filling of chard, spinach, or whatever was in the allotment at the time of preparation. The filling requires to be laced with parmesan cheese, and you could put as much as you could afford. The pastry is pierced with a fork to let vegetable inside to steam when baking in the oven.

Culaccia ham.

Culaccia is a culatello, (the best prosciutto cut) but it is cured with the rind on. This technique allows the meat to stay soft and tender. Culaccia can be found on the Reggio Emilia hills where the climate is drier and away from the foggy plains. In some cases Culaccia beats Parma ham and culatello in tasting competitions. So it is well worth to look for some slices of culaccia in the next trip to Italy.

What to do with Parmesan cheese rinds

We have been recently searching on the internet about what to do with the end of Parmesan cheese rinds and we were surprises to discover that there is pretty much a lot of misconception about how to use the.

Well first of all do not throw them away, they can be used! Parmesan cheese is completely additive free and the rind do not contain any waxing or coating, it is made of cheese. The Parmigiano Reggiano rind is formed during the brine stage, when the wheels are soaked in water and sea salt for 21 days. In our region is custom to store the rinds in a fabric bag at the bottom of the fridge.

Once you have build up a decent cheese rinds you should start worrying about what to do wit them. You should scrape them a little with a knife and remove a thin layer of the external part. After all it was its protection and it have been touched and handled in different environments so better remove the impurities. Once you have cleansed the cheese rind you can cut it in small cubes and add it to Minestrone or virtually to any soup. Once you have cooked it do not discard the rinds but serve them with your soup, by cooking them they become soft and chewy, in fact one of our childhood favourites.

So in short you can eat the rind of the Parmesan cheese, and we are referring to Parmigiano Reggiano from Italy. If you have a stock of other cheese rinds we do not recommend to eat them as they might contain wax or other artificial coatings.