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Say Cheese

Made That Way for 600 years

Judy Babcock Wylie

Suppose you knew of a product that would soothe colicky babies, sustain  strength in very old people and give mountain climbers energy quicker than any other food? Plus it was so delicious people couldn’t stop eating it.  Would you patent it?

 Too late, the Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese Consortium of Parma, Italy already has. Yes, it’s what we call parmesan cheese.

But it’s not the kind of processed cheese product that we Americans sprinkle on spaghetti. In Italy, real Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is the king of cheeses. The cows that produce it are coddled and hand-fed. The people who make it dedicate their lives to making the perfect cheese. And then they wait.  And wait. Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is aged longer than any other cheese in the world: two years.

Mario Zanoni’s life revolves around cheese. “I remember growing up, living over a cheese factory,” said Zanoni, a “cheese sensory expert” in Reggio, Italy., “and how the clack, clack of the paddles stirring the cheese became a comforting sound  to me. It still is.

It’s Zanoni’s job to make sure the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese smells, looks, and tastes perfect: this is a cheese that is made with a passion and consumed with equal passion in Italy. It is made and tended by hand, and produced proudly only in the region of Italy around Parma, Bologna and Modena.

Cheese has made the area famous for more than 600 years. It was mentioned in Boccacio’s Decameron, and Moliere was convinced it kept him alive in his old age. It is the only vintage cheese in the world, stamped with the month and year it is made, and the longest aged, taking two full years of aging in warehouses before it can be sold. The long aging is the reason the cheese has its sharp distinctive flavor—and is also why it’s impossible to slice.

The breakdown of the protein as the cheese ages causes a crystalline structure to form, making it perfect for serving in chunks or for grating over pasta or in soups. The crystalline form also makes the cheese easier to digest than any other cheese; in fact, Italian mountain climbers pack chunks of Parmigiano cheese instead of energy bars for quick energy, since the body can absorb the protein from Parmigiano in 45 minutes, four times faster than other cheese. And because it’s made with part skim milk, it also has a lower fat content than most other cheese. In Italy, doctors recommend it for sickly babies and the elderly because it is so easily absorbed.

Parmigiano-Reggiano is still made in small cheese factories owned by groups of farmers. This method is the same as has been used for hundred of years, practiced by cheesemakers who make cheese every day of the year.

“The cows don’t take a holiday, and neither can we,” said Zanoni.

These animals are fed only grass and hay and are not permitted to graze casually as any odd weeds they nibbled might taint the flavor of the cheese.

Portions of the resulting whole and skim milk are mixed, heated and stirred partly by hand, with only natural rennet added to start the curing process. Once molded, the cheeses are soaked in brine for three weeks, then taken to the warehouse. There they rest, curing for twelve months, during which they are patted, brushed, turned and tapped to insure all goes well.

At the end of the first year, an inspector taps and tests each one for wholeness and a lock of holes or fissures. If a wheel passes, it is firebranded with the official Parmigiano-reggiano stamp, and put back on the shelf for another 12 months.

The resulting cheese tastes like no other. Nutty and sweet, individual wheels have complex overtones that vary, like wine, depending on what year and month they were made.
All of this care and time means the cheese is not cheap. Most of it remains in Italy, to be eaten with gusto, but the best is given export status and can be found in fine food shops for prices between $8 and $20 per pound. It’s served as a cocktail snack, an appetizer, in entrees, and with fruit as a dessert.

Here are some delicious ways to try real  Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Low-Cal Linguine

2 Tbs. Olive oil
¼ cup red onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. Plus 1 Tbs. salt, divided
1 (12 oz) can evaporated skim milk
1 tsp. Lemon zest
3oz. Prosciutto or ham, sliced thin
10 fresh basil leaves or 2 tsp. dried
1 lb. Linguine, uncooked
¾ cup freshly grated Parmigian-Reggiano cheese
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion and 1 tsp. Salt. Sauté 5 minutes until onions soften; add evaporated milk and lemon zest. Cook 1 minute then remove from heat. Cut prosciutto or ham into thin strips 1 ½ inches long; set aside. Combine and chop fine basil, parsley, mint. Set aside.

Bring one gallon of water to a boil; add 1 Tbs. salt and then linguine. Stir. Just before pasta is done, return sauté pan to medium heat to warm sauce. Drain pasta, then add to sauté pan along with herbs and grated cheese. Toss till cheese melts; add prosciutto or ham, black pepper to taste. Toss briefly and serve immediately. Yield: 4-6 servings.

Turkey Cheese Filets

 1 lb. Turkey breast, cut into 4 slices
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup bread crumbs
Vegetable oil
1 Tbs. butter
5 oz. Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, cut into fine slivers

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Dip each turkey slice into egg to coat both sides, then in bread crumbs. Sauté on both sides till done.

Transfer to a buttered baking dish, cover with cheese and place in preheated, 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. Yield: 4 servings.

Mashed Potatoes with Eggs and Cheese

4 medium potatoes
2 cups fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2 eggs
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
6 Tbs. butter

Boil potatoes until tender. Drain and peel, then mash and place in bowl. Add cheese, eggs milk, salt and pepper, mixing thoroughly. Transfer to a baking dish rubbed with butter and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes, till puffy and lightly browned. Yield: 4-6 servings.

Minted Poached Pears

2 cups water
2 cups red wine
1 cup sugar
1 lemon
3 (4-inch) sprigs of fresh mint
6 firm pears with stems
6 fresh mint sprigs for garnish

Combine water, red wine and sugar in large saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring till sugar
dissolves. Cut zest off lemon in thin strips; juice lemon. Add lemon juice, zest and mint to wine mixture, remove pan from heat.

Leaving stem attached, peel each pear and cut a thin slice off bottom so it stands upright. To avoid discoloration, place immediately in wine mixture; remove pan from heat.

When all pears are peeled and in mixture, return pan to medium-high heat and bring liquid to a gentle simmer, being careful not to boil. Cook pears 15-30 minutes, depending on ripeness. When tender all over, pears are done. Allow to cool in liquid another 30 minutes.

Remove pears and strain poaching liquid into a smaller pan. Bring to a boil, cook 15-20 minutes,  till it becomes a light, sticky syrup that coats the spoon.

To serve, spoon or brush a small puddle of warm syrup onto each plate. Place a year in center and arrange several nuggets of Parmigiano-reggiano cheese next to the fruit. Garnish with mint sprigs and serve immediately.

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