Posted on 03/15/2013 1:49:46 PM PDT by nickcarraway
In the mountains of northern Italy, the tiny Colline di Canossa creamery still follows a centuries-old tradition to turn milk from local herds into the finest Parmesan.
It is 8am, and the cheese makers at the Colline di Canossa creamery, on a high plain in the Apennines, in northern Italy, are waiting for the morning milk delivery. Soon a dairy truck will wind its way up the hill, and the daily production of Parmesan cheese will begin.
A mountain Parmesan has unique characteristics and a softer, clean flavour. 'The cows at the dairies that supply our milk live in the fresh and rainy climate of the high-altitude pastures,’ Luigi Montruccoli, a master dairyman who has worked at the creamery for 23 years and comes from a family of dairymen, explains. 'This guarantees flourishing greenery to feed them.’
Regulations set by the Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano, the consortium established 70 years ago to protect the name of Parmesan cheese, state that the cows milked for Parmesan may be fed only on grass grown where the milk is produced, together with natural animal feed; this is essentially what leads to its flavour.
Parmesan is produced solely in northern Italy, by approximately 400 creameries in the areas of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Moderna, Mantua and Bologna. Under Italian law, only cheese made in these provinces may be labelled Parmigiano Reggiano – the Italian name for Parmesan and the logo stamped on every packet of the cheese imported for sale. In recent years many creameries in the mountains have had to close because it is easier and more cost-effective for dairies on the lower plains, along the rivers Po and Reno, to deliver milk to local, lowland creameries. Colline di Canossa is one of only a few remaining mountain creameries, and it survives
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Meanwhile, back in the United Soviet Socialist States of America: Watch the video about halfway down the page if you really want to get mad.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/03/14/raw-milk-access.aspx?e_cid=20130314_DNL_art_2&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art2&utm_campaign=20130314
I love it when the local grocer marks down the high dollar Parmesan or Romano,because it is approaching the US expiration date.
LOL the stuff is over 2 years old LOL
being in the deli for a couple of weeks won’t make it go bad! LOL
American-made parmesan cannot hold a candle to a good Parmagiano-Reggiano.
My local fresh dairy,(cow,sheep and goat milk and associated cheeses) was shut down by Obama.
There are some decent American made cheeses.
Now if we could only replicate Prosciutto and Sopressa.
Wait, are you one of the people who hides stuff in the back, so people don’t buy it, then they mark it down.
If you hold a candle to it, it might melt.
Damn right! Real cheese comes in a block. Or some other three-dimensional shape.
Behold the power of Cheese.
Bookmark for later reading..
I will admit I make the world's best calzoni. Mozerella, Parmesan and goat cheese. And of course, Prosciutto from Italy.
Lisa's Deli in Hoboken (9th and Park street) had everything. They made their own mozerella. You walk into the place and are in food heaven.
When we left Italy in 03 we bought a 38.6 kilo wheel of Parmagiano-Reggiano and put it in our household goods shipment. It lasted until last year, we vacuum packed and froze it, it was fine, the last couple of years it was dry.
Very good!
You can’t find decent Italian goods around here.
Pecarino is a good sub for Parmesan.
Wasn’t imported Prosciutto banned a few years back?
The difference between 'real' Italian food and the stuff passed off in most places is amazing.
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