Oh My

As our friend Cindy would say "Oh My"......today was an "oh my” kind of day. 

We hired a driver and a guide to take us to a local Parmigiana Reggiano factory and it was so interesting. We had to dress appropriately, just like getting into a Basilica!  Remember, appropriate dress does not always have the same meaning!

We followed the process from birth of the cheese (as our guide called it) to the point where they put the cheese into the molds and then they kicked us out. Extremely fascinating.

We went through the storage area where the cheese sits for 12, 24 or 30 months. After tasting, we decided the 30 month cheese should come home with us!

In the bottom picture, I am testing the wheel to make sure it deserves the brand of Parmigiana Reggiano. It passed the test!

From here we were driven to a Traditional Balsamic factory. We were astounded at the difference in taste between the industrial balsamic vinegar (her words) that we can buy at home and the Traditional Balsamic vinegar made here. We were told that this vinegar is not even sold in Canada. It was so good that I bought 100 mls of a twenty five year old vinegar for $135 Cdn. That was my gondola ride! It will be on display October 20th at Fred's mom's place! Just five drops each!

At our sampling of the balsamic...only five drops allowed!

Just when we thought we were too overwhelmed to continue, we were taken to a place that produces Prosciutto de Parma. No pigs are raised in this area because of the cross contamination of pigs/milk/cheese so only the back legs of the pigs are brought in from a pig producing area elsewhere in Italy.

The producers have extremely strict rules that they must follow before they can claim that they produce Prosciutto de Parma and just like the cheese factories, every piece of product is tested before it is stamped.

We had a glass of wine after this last tour so that we could taste the ham in the traditional Italian way...bread, ham and wine.

Elizabetta is using a piece of bone to insert into the ham and if it comes out smelling okay then the ham is good to be branded. So many regulations!