Thursday, September 18, 2008
From igourmet
The Italians are horrified by our usage of this, the world's most famous hard cheese. Thought of here in the States as purely a grating cheese, the rest of the world savours Parmigiano-Reggiano as a delicious, full-flavored eating cheese. It began life seven centuries ago in the Italian provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, part of Bologna and part of Mantua. Nature blessed this zone with the most idealistic cattle grazing land to create the unique milk from the "Zone Tripica". The local cheese craftsmen took it from there, utilizing a totally natural process that has not changed for 700 years. No additives, no machinery, no gimmicks... just sweet, fresh milk in its pristine state... then the artisan's ancient skills... and then nature's own good time (aged from 18 to 36 months). What you see today is just what the knights, serfs, saints and kings of old ate! And please, don't compare it to the pre-grated "Parmesan" cheese found in the green can in aisle 4 of the grocer store. Made from raw cow's milk, aged over 18 months.
I really cannot recommend this cheese highly enough. The flavor and consistency is almost perfect. This is a very strong tasting, natural cheese. Cut very thin to savor the flavor as a snack cheese, but of course this stuff has no equal as a grating cheese. To be honest, I am usually not a big fan of many cheeses in this category, but of the ones I do like, this heads the list. A unique eating experience! Cannot see how you can go wrong here.
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