A Spaghetti Story with Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese
I don’t know about you, but my childhood memory of parmesan cheese is still very vivid. It came pre-grated one Thursday afternoon neatly wrapped in a green cardboard cylinder. It stayed in the fridge for a long time until the day mom decided to make spaghetti and opened it. Come on, admit it. The first time you met parmesan cheese involved spaghetti as well. But America and I are no longer kids. Gourmet shops are no longer exclusive to the big cities and Italian restaurants now serve regional menus instead of pure classics. And since we are all used to tasting different things and making discriminating choices, I think it is time that we take a closer look at the Parmigiano Reggiano beyond spaghetti, a king of cheese that is thousands of years away from parmesan cheese.
Parmigiano Reggiano is partly skimmed and is made from unpasteurized cow’s milk, making it medium-fat. Initially, it was made in a zone limited to the provinces of Parma, Reggio-Emilia and Modena, and other parts of the provinces of Mantua and Bolognia in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. The Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is naturally made sans the chemical preservatives and artificial additives. The Parmigiano Reggiano, like fine wine, is a living product, capable of maturing and evolving in flavor.
You can have the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese on its own. Just break off a small chunk off the brick, and you are ready to serve. Everyone loves the taste of this cheese, and you can even pair it with a long list of other flavors that will highlight its sweetness.
Most Italian athletes include Parmigiano Reggiano cheese on their workout diet, as it is a great source of protein, calcium and phosphorous, and it contains other vitamins and minerals such as B12, copper and zinc. But what makes this cheese very interesting is the way it is opened, or “cracked” from the wheel.
In case you have never seen a Parmigiano Reggiano cut open and wonders how these cutters were able to cut into such ragged and craggy wedges, well you will be surprised if I tell you that those wedges are there on purpose. Some people consider breaking into the 1-year old Parmigiano Reggiano wheel as “cracking open happiness”. This is because traditionally, opening it would need a specific set of tools 5 different kinds of knives to make sure that the crystalline structure and crumbly texture remain preserved and intact inside.
The Parmigiano Reggiano is an expression of the cheese maker’s sensibilities and judgment the maker decides every phase of production with his hands. More than just a pasta ingredient, the Parmigiano Reggiano is a product of an intimate endeavor. So don’t stop grating. Try the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese today!