Parmigiano-Regiano…The King of Cheese

After breakfast our ride backtracked yesterday’s course, but this time it was downhill, whooo hoo! Again, through beautiful countryside…chestnuts are forming, corn is ripening, and since the weather here allows up to 5 harvests of grain, some fields are green, some are cut down to the ground and some are in amber waves.

We stopped mid-morning in a small town for coffee and to rest our legs, sharing the caffe with local Italians who had gathered for the market.  After coffee, we continued through the town and passed a castle with a filled moat.  I can’t remember ever seeing a castle with a water filled moat.

Lunch was at a small restaurant in the middle of nowhere, Fattoria del Boschetto,…a buffet of local vegetables, grains and meat. Allan, Connie and I decided to end our ride there; I was feeling a bit under the weather. Charlie and Clay continued on to our next event, the CIAOLATTE organic dairy.

Mama Parmigiano welcomed us with a cup of gelato that she makes from the cow’s milk.  She owns 250 head of Chianina cattle–they are huge!  A bull stands no less than 6 feet tall and they are completely white. They are more commonly used as beef cattle, but Mama Parmigiano finds them superior to other breeds for making cheese.  The cows are milked two times per day and it takes no less than 130 gallons of milk to produce one round of cheese.

To tour the processing plant, our first step was to cover our shoes…we began the tour in the mixing room where 5 vats that each held 260 gallons are filled with milk.  Rennet is added and that begins the cheese-making process.  The cheese maker stirs the cheese with a whisk like instrument called a “spino” to break up the clumps of cheese until they are the size of rice grains.  The mixture is heated to 55 degrees C and the minuscule clumps are put back together with another tool.  This process is entirely dependent on the cheese maker.  There is no machine that can do a better job of making the cheese.  The rounds of cheese, two per vat, are stacked for a day or two, allowing the whey to drain from the cheese. Next the rounds are moved to the maturation room and soaked in salt water which creates the rind. Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is regulated only produced by grass fed cows from a small region.  Allan enjoyed tasting the 2-year and 1-year old cheese.

We rode in the van back to Tabiano Castle  and after a short rest, everyone (except me, still not feeling well I rested until dinner) went to the Commanderia deal Gusto and made the pasta that was part of dinner.  They made spinach and basil, chocolate and regular tagliatelle pasta.  It was excellent.  Dinner was typical Italian style…pasta, salad, meat and potatoes and dessert.  Dessert was gelato from the CIAOLATTE dairy with traditional (aged) Modena  Balsamic vinegar topping–excellent!  Following gelato was a chocolate cookie bar.

Great day!!