Too good for words
This post is all about Parmigiano Reggiano and Aceto Balsamico, but it was all too good to put into words, so here are some pictures with captions. Some speak for themselves.
Mixing the curdles curds :-)
Testing the curds: are they ready?
An empty cheese cone, clean and ready for the next batch
A fresh Parmigiano form, pried loose from the bottom and raised to the surface. Each big vat makes two forms
Fresh cheese, receiving its name and date by compression from a plastic stamp inside the metal band
Stamped Parmigiani, soaking in a salt bath. Not quite the Dead Sea, but a cheese sea
Beautiful!
Can I take one home, please?
The cheese stretched all the way up to the high ceiling, and all the way down the long room. Each form must be washed individually once a week!
Maurizio, owner of the B&B Bosco del Fracasso, where we've been staying, showed us around his Acetaia. He explained the whole process to us, and let us taste different ages of aceto. It was yummy!
Stage 1: cooked grape must, allowed to ferment about 2 years
Young (3 years old) fermented must at the first stage of becoming vinegar, in old wine barrels
A series of vinegar barrels made from different woods. The smallest is the oldest (12 years), and as it gets depleted, it is refilled from the next biggest barrel, and so on, until the 3-year old vinegar makes its way down the line.
After all this, we had to buy some vinegar!
2 comments:
Wow! Great pics, and how appetizing those cheeses and vinegar, although you can't see this. Too late to ask now, but I'm wondering how long they are "stagionati" (seasoned.)
The cheese sit for 24 days in their salt baths, and then sit on the shelf, aging, for at least two years. Cheeses older than four years become quite sharp and are preferred for cooking.
It was great talking to you today!(from Monica!)
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