Parmesan Cheese

Parmesan Cheese is made from raw skim milk. Calf Rennet is added to the milk, and the milk heated until it curdles. The curd is cut, heated to 125 F (51 C), stirred, then heated further up to 131 F (55 C.) The curd is packed into moulds lined with cheesecloth, then removed from the moulds and soaked in brine for a month. The whey leftover from the process is used to feed pigs, which then become meats such as Mortadella and Parma ham. 4 1/2 gallons (US) / 16 litres of milk are needed to make 2 1/4 pounds (1 kg) of the cheese.

The cheeses are aged on wooden racks for anywhere from 12 months to 3 years. Young Parmesan cheese, just over a year old, is mostly sold inside Italy; they are served shaved into thin curls. "Vecchio" (old) is aged from 1 1/2 to 2 years. "Stravecchio" (extra-old) Parmesan is aged over two years. These latter two are the cheeses sold and used for grating.

Cheese makers often leave wheels of Parmesan cheese with their bank as collateral. The banks have special vaults to store the cheese in, so that it can age properly while they are holding it.

The wheels of aged Parmesans are straw-coloured. The cheese is crumbly and has a slightly salty taste. The rinds are not eaten or grated; they are discarded.

Parmesan must be made in Parma or Emilia-Romagna. As of 2004, there were at least 900 small cheesemakers in the area joined in a consortium. Any Parmesan-type cheese produced outside that area has to call itself a "grana."

Each dairy's production is tracked and inspected in "lots", which correspond to 4 months of the year:

• January to April (inspection starts 1 December)
• May to August (inspection starts in the following year, on 1 April)
• September to December (inspection starts in the following year, on 1 September)

(Some foodies feel the best cheeses are those produced between April and November.)

Inspection is done by experts appointed by the Consortium. At least one cheese from each "lot" must be inspected by cutting a portion from it for internal inspection. Its appearance, texture and aroma are assessed. The lot is then graded first grade, medium grade or rejected. The grading is branded on the wheels of cheese that pass the testing with a hot iron. Rejected wheels have to have their Mark of Origin removed; then are then sold on for industrial processing and sale not under the official name. [1] Dairies have four days in which to register an appeal over rejected lots; if they do, a second, different inspection team is sent out within 15 days of the appeal being received.

Even if the cheese is only 8 months old when it passes inspection (example: produced in April, inspected in December), "cheese cannot be put on the market for consumption under the Parmigiano-Reggiano protected designation before having reached the 12th month of maturation". [1]

When Parmesan is cut into small wedges for retail sale, it must by law be cut so that some portion of the rind is showing. This allows consumers to see the trademark on the trade and see that it is the genuine article. Coincidently, it also means that the inedible rind becomes part of the weight that consumers have to pay for. Recipes that insist that you use freshly grated Parmesan right in cooked dishes are just plain silly. The Italians don't use Parmesan for cooking, they use Grana Padano. Secondly, it's like tossing very expensive sea salt into pasta water. Which is to say, it's like sprinkling your conversation with French words: silly. Italians usually reserve Parmesan as "finishing cheese" to put on the table; for cooking, they'll actually use grana cheeses instead. Grana padano is considered by Italians just a small step down from Parmesan.

It is very handy to keep in your fridge a tub of already-grated Parmesan, Grana or Romano in your fridge -- whether you buy it already grated from a deli-counter you trust, or buy a small slab and grate it up yourself in a food mill or food processor. For a quick evening meal or weekend lunch on your own, it can't be beaten. Boil up a few handfuls of pasta, drain and stir in some olive oil and some of the Parmesan. Salt and pepper to taste (if you don't have a pepper-mill for freshly-grated pepper, don't fret, but this is one of those times that it's actually worth it.) Presto, pronto, instant nummy pasta meal. Whenever you have other oddments in the fridge such as olives, fresh or sun-dried tomatoes in oil, bits of leftover ham, bacon, chicken, you can toss this in when you have them and as the mood strikes. This already grated cheese is never as nice as Parmesan that you grate yourself on the spot, but there will be times when boiling water and stirring in olive-oil and ready-to-go grated cheese is as much as you can be asked to do after arriving home late from work in the evenings.

You elevate this to a dish you can serve to others, by pitching in a sprinkle of parsley for colouring along with freshly-grated pepper.

All Foodies dismiss, of course, the dried, ground Parmesan-style cheese that comes off supermarket shelves in little shake-ee cardboard containers. Dismiss it though they may, someone's buying it: it's still a huge seller.

Those that dismiss it as "sawdust", though, may have more of a point than they know. Cellulose is often added to those cheese mixtures to prevent clumping. (It's also what prevents those cheeses from melting nicely on top of hot food.) And the source of that cellulose? Cotton or wood pulp.Asiago d'Allevo, Grana Padano, Queso Cotija, Romano or Sbrinz.Per tablespoon, grated: 2g fat1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese = 2 ounces = 50g

Wrap Parmesan in waxed paper, then in tin foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate. Wrapping it in plastic wrap alone will make the cheese sweat.

If little patches of mould appear, the cheese is still fine to use: just scrape them off and use the cheese.

It freezes well if frozen whole; the flavour doesn't survive so well if frozen grated.

On a good day, people date Parmesan back all the way to the ancestors of the Romans, the Etruscans.

"Sir W. Batten not knowing how to remove his wine, did dig a pit in the garden, and laid it in there; and I took the opportunity of laying all the papers of my office that I could not otherwise dispose of and in the evening Sir W. Pen and I did dig another, and put our wine in it; and I my parmazan cheese, as well as my wine and some other things." -- Samuel Pepys, 4 Sept 1666 (readying himself for the Great London of London, as it approached his house.) [1] Ministero Delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari E Forestali. Decreto 20 luglio 2006. Modifica del decreto 13 gennaio 2006 relativo alla protezione transitoria accordata a livello nazionale alla modifica del disciplinare di produzione della denominazione di origine protetta «Parmigiano Reggiano», registrata con regolamento (CE) 1107/96 della Commissione del 12 giugno 1996. In: "Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana, n. 185 del 10 agosto 2006."

Also called:

Grana Padano, Protected Designation of Origin

Asiago Cheese, Cotija Cheese, Grana Padano, Manchego Viejo, Parmesan Cheese, Sapsago Cheese, Sbrinz Cheese

Affinage, American Cheeses, British Cheeses, Casu Marzu, Cheese Curds, Cheese Rinds, Creamery, Double/Triple-Cream Cheese, Firm Cheeses, Goat's Milk Cheeses, Mexican Cheeses, Pate (of a Cheese), Processed Cheese, Queso Fundido, Rennet, Semi-Firm Cheeses, Sheep's Milk Cheeses, Skim-Milk Cheeses, Smear-Ripened Cheeses, Soft Cheeses, Surface-Ripened Cheeses, Sweet Curd Cheeses, The Crumblies, Truckle, Washed-Curd Cheeses, Washed-Rind Cheeses, Yak Cheese, Yeel Cheese

Butter, Milk