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Parmigiano-Reggiano
Country: Italy Grade: Unpasteurized
Cheese Type: Hard Milk Type: Cow
Size: SKU: SKU16195
Weight: 0.50 lbs Available: 20
Your Price: $9.75 Quantity:

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Description:
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese has been a classic staple cheese for at least eight centuries, highlighting its ancient origin. This cheese today is still identical to how it was eight centuries ago. It has the same appearance and the same extraordinary fragrance, made in the same way, in the same places, with the same expert care. Parmigiano-Reggiano is strictly bound to its place of origin. Both the production of milk and its transformation into cheese take place in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, and Bologna (to the west of the Reno River and Mantua to the east of the Po River). Nature blessed this area with the most idealistic cattle grazing land to create the unique milk from the "Zone Tripica". Only milk produced between May 1 and November 11 is used in producing the cheese. It appears that the best parmesan is the one made during the month of September and known, therefore, as the settembrino. It takes 35 lb. of milk to make 21/4 lb. of cheese.

Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is a product with the Protected Designation of Origin (P.D.O.), in compliance with the European rules contained in EEC Regulation 2081/92 and with the recognition by Regulation (EC) no. 1107/96. Cheese produced according to the rules contained in the Production Regulation is the only cheese entitled to bear the Parmigiano-Reggiano mark and, therefore, the wheel must display all the marks required for identifying and distinguishing the product. These marks are subdivided into marks of origin and grade selection marks.

a) the marks printed by means of the stenciling band, placed entirely around the wheel, which has pre-punched dots bearing the inscription "PARMIGIANO-REGGIANO", the identification number of the dairy, the production month and year, the acronym "D.O.P." for the Protected Designation of Origin and the inscription "CONSORZIO TUTELA";
b) the casein plate applied on the surface that shows the production year, the acronym "C.F.P.R." and an alphanumeric code identifying each single wheel. Parmigiano-Reggiano is sold at one of four stages:

Giovane – young, after fourteen months.
Vecchio – old, after eighteen months to two years.
Stravecchio- mature, after two to three years.
Stravecchione – extra mature, after three to four years.
Texture:
The cheese assumes its full and typical characteristic qualities only after a period of aging which ranges from 18 to 24 months. The straw-colored appearance of Parmigiano-Reggiano indicates that the milk used in its preparation has come from cattle fed on fresh fodder. The color varies between a pale and a deep yellow straw shade, and is always uniform throughout the cheese. Another typical feature is its "scale" structure. Internally, the matured product forms long thin flakes radiating from, or converging towards the center. The internal mass tends to be medium soft minutely granulated, and dotted with barely visible holes.
Flavor:
Parmigiano-Reggiano's flavor is unmistakably piquant. The aroma is full of sharply defined raisins and dried fruit with wine. The flavor is wonderfully full and fruity with a salty tang. There are crunchy casein crystals and a lingering aftertaste.
Pairings:
Parmigiano-Reggiano is at its finest when eaten plain, in the classic style accompanied by a ripe pear, or with apples, peaches, figs, grapes, walnuts, and kiwi fruit. It is great sprinkled over pasta, soups and other dishes. The next time you make a chicken or vegetables soup cut off a piece of the rind and put it in the soup. It will not melt but it will add great flavor to the soup. It blends well with other cheeses Try adding it with Cheddar in a cauliflower casserole, Gruyère in a cheese soufflé or with asiago in macaroni and cheese.
White: sparkling Wine
Red: Nero d'Avola, Teroldego, Tannat, Pinotage, Dornfelder
 
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