5.5 ITALIAN EXCELLENCE 129 Do you know how much milk is necessary to make a single cheese wheel? All identifying marks and the dotted inscriptions are removed from any cheeses which do not meet the PDO requirements. The 19-24 month-old cheese is one of the most consumed because it has very balanced characteristics. The maturation period of 60-72 months is not so common because few dairies choose to do so. In this case, the cheese loses all the water, all the fat and all the lactose in it, but retains an incredible flavour. ball-shaped whisk: frusta a sfera cheese wheel: forma copper cauldron: calderone di rame to engrave: incidere fire-branded: marchiato a fuoco mould: stampo plate: placca silage: insilato to sink: depositarsi wrapped: avvolto THE KING OF ITALIAN CHEESES Parmigiano Reggiano has been considered the king of cheeses for nine centuries, since Benedictine monks started producing these great cheeses specifically for long maturation. Parmigiano Reggiano is produced in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena and parts of the provinces of Mantua and Bologna, on the plains, hills and mountains enclosed between the Po and Reno rivers. This area hosts four thousand farms where the cattle are fed on locally grown forage as it is strictly specified in the norms that ban the use of silage and fermented feeds. Production process Milk collecting. Every day, the milk from the evening milking is left to rest until morning in large vats, where the fatty part rises spontaneously to the surface. As soon as the whole milk from the morning milking arrives from the farm, the skimmed milk from the night before is poured into typical bell-shaped copper cauldrons. Coagulation. Milk is added with calf rennet and fermented whey, rich in natural lactic ferments obtained from the processing of the day before. The milk coagulates in around ten minutes and forms the curd. Cutting the curd. The curd is broken down into minuscule granules using a traditional ball-shaped whisk called spino . Cooking. The curd is then heated at 55° C, after which the cheesy granules sink to the bottom of the cauldron forming a single mass. Shaping. After resting for around thirty minutes, the cheese mass is removed by the cheese maker, cut into two parts, wrapped in typical cloth and placed in a mould which will give it its final shape. Marking. Each cheese is given a progressive number using a casein plate. Then, a special marking band engraves the month and year of production onto the cheese, as well as its cheese dairy registration number, the letters DOP, the CE stamp and the dotted writing of Parmigiano Reggiano along the entire side of the rind. Salting. After a few days, the wheel is immersed in a water and saltsaturated solution. This process of salting by absorption lasts 20 days. Maturation. The cheese wheels are laid out on wooden tables in the maturation rooms where they remain twelve months, until the experts of the Consortium examine each cheese one by one. After the Control Body s inspection, a mark is fire-branded onto the individual wheels which meet the requirements of the Protected Designation of Origin . Maturities. Parmigiano Reggiano offers a vast range of flavours and textures according to different seasoning which can be 12-18, 19-24, 30-48 and 60-72 months. 264