His tour was SGD$100/pax less expensive than others advertised on TripAdvisor. Since there were 4 of us, it meant SGD$400 of savings. The disadvantage of Antonio's food tours was that we had to meet him in Vignola. He could not come to Bologna to pick us up. Antonio was a great guide.
We did not mind. The drive from Bologna to Vignola was 1 hr long. Since it was snowing, we chose to take the train for about 3 euros per pax. Stressless since the train station was within walking distance from our beautiful AirBnB apartment.
Making Parmegiano-Reggiano Cheese
There is Parmegiano-Reggiano cheese and Parmesan cheese. My neighbour once gave me a bag of parmesan cheese that her cousin supplies to restaurants. I looked at it and it looked funny. Sure enough, the ingredients list named "filler". Fillers for parmesan cheese are basically cellulose (made from wood pulp) used to add volume. It is not cheese but it adds bulk to what you are sprinkling on your pasta.
Such types of parmesan cheese are tasteless. Don't buy grated parmesan. Buy the parmesan block and grate the cheese yourself as and when you need it.
The Parmegiano-Reggiano is the king of parmesan cheese. It is the gold standard of what parmesan should be and it is what unethical food suppliers hope to convince you, that you are buying (when you are not).
The Parmegiano-Reggiano can only be made from organic milk. If the milk contains antibiotics, it will kill the probiotics needed to make cheese. You will simply get bad milk. This is why the cooperative tracks which farm produces which milk which results in exactly which wheels of cheese. Farmers that sabotage the process with unethical milk will get heavily fined.
The curds from yesterday's milk are bound into a ball and held in a cheese cloth.
The cheese ball is placed into moulds. These are turned every so often for 24 hours before they are transferred into another mould.
These have been transferred into another type of mould. Each wheel of cheese is printed with information about the farm which produced the milk, the date the milk was processed and even the type of cow that produced the milk. Normal parmigiano-reggiano is made from the milk of the Friesian cow. These cows produce high quantities of milk. In 2003, some farmers decided to preserve the local breed of viacche bianche (white cow) which produces less milk, but the milk is high in casein. The resulting white cow parmigiano has a special sweetness and richness that comes from the high casein levels.
It takes strength to make cheese. Both cheesemakers are very fit and muscular. The older one is in his 60s and looks very attractive! Apparently, master cheesemakers are like football stars in this region. They are lured to join this or that co-operative with high pay and good perks.
Ph testing of the ferments.
After some time in the moulds, the cheese are submerged in brine for weeks.
The cheeses are then cured for 1 year. At the end of 1 year, someone comes in to test the cheese. If the cheese is good, it is left to cure another year in order to become Parmegiano-Reggiano. Sub-standard wheels are taken out and sold cheaply as semi-hard cheese with no name.
Cheese tasting!
Making ricotta from the leftover whey (after making the parmigiano-reggiano). They leftover whey contains excellent probiotics. It was also delicious.
Fresh ricotta cheese. The cream harvested from the milk is used to make panna cotta too. If you come here, you MUST try the panna cotta. You will NOT taste another panna cotta like this. I found out with some pleasure that panna cotta means cooked cream in Italian. No wonder I like panna cotta. It is cream!
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