There Is Parmigiano Reggiano, and Then There Is Parmigiano Reggiano

From my tiny spot here up north I observe that Norwegians, along side the remainder of the planet , probably, have taken Parmigiano Reggiano to heart. Aka Parmesan, a French name by the way. We cannot have enough of it. Personally i'm more in favour of Swiss Sbrinz, but it's made only in minute quantities, most of which is consumed domestically. the tiny part being exported, goes to Italy, of course. i feel most folks are approaching the way Italians make use of the cheese, for everyday use. Most Italians though, have some finer versions for festive use, like Sundays. We mostly don't. the rationale for that's probably ignorance and availability.

I like being precise; so there's Parmigiano Reggiano, then there's Parmigiano Reggiano. what is the difference?

What's all this with Parmigiano Reggiano?

Depends on your perspective in fact and the way concerned you're with authenticity. This cheese has become a, volume wise, huge cheese, sold everywhere the planet . That naturally also introduces a couple of challenges. The artisan cheese that it once was, all the way back when it started, you've got to seem carefully to seek out . Most of today's cheese come from big dairies. doesn't need to be anything wrong thereupon , though. But, it seems to be the rule that the larger the players, the more they need it their way, spending huge resources changing the principles in their favour. Enough to say Camembert. But this has also happened to Parmigiano Reggiano, long before the Camembert issue. consistent with what was said during a tasting at Cheese 2017, there's allowed to use quite few additives in making the cheese, allowed because the large actors find it useful, not allowed earlier and not applied by the tiny dairies. But that's not my concern with this post. i would like to speak about milk. A rather important factor when it involves cheese making. Hard to form good cheese from bad milk, but in fact quite possible to form bad cheese from good milk. there's tons of various breeds out there, and every one of them with their own individuality. Of course. a number of them provide milk very suitable for creating cheese while others aren't necessarily within the same league.

Vacca Bianca Modenese og Vacca Rosso

Earlier, Parmesan was made with milk from these two breeds. i'm not saying originally, because it's a cheese with an extended history, but there are mentions of Vacca Rosso as far back as around year 1000. Benedictine monks were using milk from this breed to form Parmigiano Reggiano. The white appeared later, I think, through cross breeding; Vacca Rosso and gray Podolico (Grigi di tipo Podolico).

At least that seems to be the opinion. As a matter of fact, these two breeds were alright fitted to providing milk for the Parmigiano Reggiano making, and cheese generally for that sake. That has got to do with the Protein/Fat ratio, which is vital when it involves cheesemaking and which milk is best fitted to making which cheese. For these two breeds the content of kappa proteins in their milk is specially high, consistent with Slow Food. Which may be a good thing. And? To-day there are only relatively small herds left of those two breeds. But they, or some, are working hard on increasing them. Milk from these two breeds aren't blended to form cheese, it's either or. So you've got Vacca Bianco Mondenese Parmigiano Reggiano from the Modena area and Vacca Rosso Parmigiano Reggiano from the Reggio-Emilia area.

So what's the problem?

Huge demand attracts big participants demanding many milk to run their operations. The Vacca Bianca Modenese and Vacca Rosso are too few and therefore the output from each of them is way too low for the large players. in order that they have pushed the introduction of Holtein-Friesians. it's an enormous output. Most breeds have an annual maximum, if you feed them more believing you'll get more milk from them, you're wrong. They only get fat from this excess feeding. Not so with the Holstein-Friesians. The more you feed them the more milk you get. reciprocally you get what's commonly called "white water". it's generally accepted the milk quality from Holstein-Friesians is poorer than from other breeds. That doesn't stop tons from using milk from this Dutch breed in cheese making, albeit it's better fitted to consumption milk. The Holstein-Friesian is sort of a machine.

Suboptimal milk

From this we will learn that the majority of the Parmigiano Reggiano we consume comes from suboptimal milk, carefully put. It's all about "milking the market". that's in fact a well-known drive . It brings us back to Parmigiano Reggiano as an everyday cheese, though, good for grating. The cheese for those special occasions comes from Vacca Bianca Modenese and Vacca Rosso. they're rather rare, but probably easier to urge hold of the Vacca Rosso cheese. If the milk comes from any of the 2 breeds, it's on the label, fear not. That's how exclusive it's .

So while most folks are only concerned with the age of the Parmigiano Reggiano we eat, we should always be more concerned with what sort of milk it's made up of .

Vacca Bianco Modenese

Apart from excellent milk this breed also provide extraordinary beef. Besides, in earlier times it had been a really useful animal within the fields. So if you're offered beef from the Vacca Bianco Modenese, don't hesitate. within the meantime i like to recommend you have a look for the important Parmigiano Reggiano.

I like being precise; there are differing types of Parmigiano Reggiano other that how long it's been matured. But what is the difference then? Read on and learn what quite Parmesan you ought to be trying to find .