🧀 Parmesan

Parmesan is what Parmigiano Reggiano, a hard, granular cow’s milk cheese, is called outside Italy. It is made in Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy — in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena and parts of Bologna and Mantua — and in the EU the name “Parmigiano Reggiano” has Protected Designation of Origin status.

The cheese uses raw milk from the evening milking (partly skimmed by letting the cream rise) and the morning milking. In copper vats the milk is inoculated with whey from the previous batch and curdled with calf rennet; the curd is broken into rice-sized grains, heated and formed into wheels of about 40 kg. Each wheel takes roughly 550 liters of milk. The wheels are salted in brine for weeks and aged at least 12 months, often 24–36 months or longer.

Parmigiano Reggiano differs from Grana Padano in its stricter rules (for example, on cow feed, minimum aging and raw materials). The mature cheese is crumbly, with crystals of amino acids; it is grated over pasta and risotto, eaten in chunks, and its rinds are simmered in broths. Cheeses labeled “parmesan” outside the EU may be made anywhere and by other methods.