The production of Parmigiano is strictly controlled by the Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese Consortium) which drew up the "Regulation for the Marking of Parmigiano Cheese" a 100 years ago. The officials working for the Consortium strictly control and check the cheese production starting from the milking farms all the way to the maturing process. 

Parmigiano is produced from cow's milk and aged at least 12 months.

It is produced exclusively in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna to the left of the Reno river, and Mantua to the right of the Po river: this is the area hosting the farms where the cattle are fed on locally grown forage. The feeding of cattle complies with the norms of a strict specification that bans the use of silage, fermented feeds and animal flour.

Under Italian and European law, cheeses made only in these provinces are referred to as Parmigiano Reggiano and Parmesan, which are protected designations of origin (PDOs).

Production

The milk that arrives to the latteria (cheese manufacturer) in the evening milking is stored until the morning in large tanks, in which the spontaneous surfacing of the fat part - destined for the production of butter and cream - takes place.

The evening milk, thus skimmed, is poured into the typical inverted bell-shaped copper cauldrons and processed together with the whole milk from the morning milking. They heat up the cauldrons to 33 °C, the addition of natural rennet and whey starter allows the milk to start coagulating naturally. After 10-12 minutes, they raise the temperature to 55 °C, the whole process is controlled by the cheese master. 

After 50-60 minutes, the curd is ready to be removed. They wrap the cooked curd in a muslin cloth, then this mass is put into a shaped wooden or metal mould known as a 'fascera' and lightly pressed to facilitate the whey's exit.

The cheese takes on its characteristic shape in this mould. A casein plate with a unique and sequential alphanumeric code (including the manufacturer's code, production date, etc.) is applied to each wheel: it is its identity card of the cheese, which makes it possible to trace its entire production back to its origins, anytime and anywhere.

The curd making up each wheel at this point weighs around 45 kilograms.

This is followed by the salting process, which is achieved by soaking the cheese wheels in a saturated solution of table salt for 20-25 days.

When the salting process is done, the cheese is taken to the cascina, which is the first maturing room. They are placed on solid wooden boards arranged in bunkers and regularly brushed, turned and checked.

It's important to know that at this point these cheeses cannot be called Parmigiano, they may deserve this title after one year of maturation if they pass the test (see later).

The total number of wheels produced by the dairy in a season (or cheese year) constitutes the 'batch'. From this moment, the long ageing or natural ripening process begins and continues in special warehouses where batches are usually transferred at the end of the year. Maturation takes place in the maturing warehouses at the cheese factory following precise programmes of turning and cleaning the wheels.

The story of Parmigiano-Reggiano is a long one, and also a slow one, following the natural rhythm of the seasons.

The minimum maturation time is 12 months, the longest among all the PDO cheeses, and only at this point can it be decided if each individual wheel is worthy of the name it was given at its birth, and therefore continue the maturation up to 24, 36, 40 months and more.

After 12 months, the Consortium experts carry out a test called “quality inspection” on every single the wheel: each wheel is tapped with a hammer and the trained ear of the quality inspector recognises any defects inside the cheese that may compromise quality. Only the conforming wheels are marked with the hot-iron brand thus becoming Parmigiano Reggiano.

A less known fact: Parmigiano Reggiano is naturally lactose free. The absence of lactose is a natural consequence of the traditional Parmigiano Reggiano manufacturing process, so this cheese is safe to be consumed even for those having lactose intolerance.