Parma and Modena

Ciao! This post is about the class field trip that I took with my Food Culture class, and it was one of the best field trips I have ever been on! Those of you who know me well are aware that I have a passion for the culinary world, and so this field trip was right up my alley!

During this field trip to Parma and Modena, I learned a tremendous amount about the processes involved in making parmigiano reggiano cheese, Parma ham, and traditional balsamic vinegar. The trip began at the farm where the made authentic parmigiano cheese, where I learned that the family business there had been going on for almost 100 years. I found it interesting that there are no holidays for the people that work there, because there is too much to do! The ingredients are simple, using just milk, rennet, and salt. The milk is warmed up to 26 degrees Celsius, and the whey is added, which causes the milk to ferment. Next, the temperature is raised to 36 degrees Celsius, and this is how the curd forms. The temperature is then raised again to 60 degrees Celsius, where the solid part sinks to the bottom of the vat and remains there for one hour. The mass is then lifted and placed in a mold. After three days in the mold, the cheese is moved to a salt water solution for 18 days. Next, the cheese is moved to the shelves for aging. The cheese is sold at three different ages, 12 months, 22 months, and 30 months. After the tasting, I decided that I like the 22 months the best! After doing the cheese tasting, we took the bus down to see the farm where all of the cows they used were. It was smelly and there were a lot of flies, but the cows were so cute! We saw the adult ones they use for milking and the equipment they use to do it, and then we also got to go to the section that has all that baby cows, where there was a newborn calf only 3 days old! 🐄

The next stop on this trip was to a Parma ham factory. There are 10 regions that produce the ham, and every ham must begin the process of becoming prosciutto within 5 days of the slaughter. The first phase is that of salting, where the ham sits for twenty days in a cold room. Then, the ham is dried for another 100 days in a room that is between 12 and 22 degrees Celsius. At 6 months, the skins of the hams are greased. After one year minimum, the Parma ham inspector can test the hams using a horse bone. They poke the instrument into 5 specific points on the ham. Typically, the hams are kept stored for two years before sold. This was admittedly my least favorite part of the trip, but I think that is because I am a vegetarian.

The last stop of this trip was to a traditional balsamic vinegar factory in Modena. We began the tour by seeing the fields where the grapes are grown, but unfortunately the harvest was just the day before we arrived so there were not any grapes left in the fields. The grapes grown at this particular farm were Trebbiano grapes. Only seven types of grapes can be used to produce the balsamic vinegar. An interesting fact we learned is that a rose bush is put in front of every row because if there is any type of problem with the crop, it will show up with the rose one month before it would with the grapes. This way the farmers have time to try and fix whatever the problem is before it occurs. The balsamic vinegar is made using only one ingredient, which is cooked grape juice. The rest of the work is done through time and flavor that comes from the wood barrels the juice is aged in. The barrels are stored in the highest level of the house rather than the basement because the changing of the temperatures is what helps with the fermentation process. The exact age of any traditional balsamic vinegar cannot be given due to the way that the product is moved in small portions from one barrel to another, with no barrel ever being completely emptied. The barrels are made of different kinds of wood such as chestnut and mulberry, and this adds the flavor and color to the balsamic vinegar. Glass pipets are used to check the color and fermentation of the product. The minimum aging time is listed as 12 years. Once the vinegar has reached this age, it is poured into a bottle that is only 100 ml, and it is made from a specific shape designed to maintain the perfect flavor.

This stop on the trip was very special because it was just at a local Italian families house. I had time to speak with the woman who gave us the tour, and I found out they only just started selling the vinegar within the last 5 years, despite the fact that her family has been doing this for over a hundred years. I was amazed when she mentioned this, asking what her whole family did with everything they produced, and she said up until they started to sell it, all they did was give it to friends and use it in their own kitchen. When we went down to her dining room to do some tasting, her own mother came out, and had baked us all a rice cake, which was so sweet and adorable, and felt so classic "Italian Nonna". One of my classmates asked the woman if she had any children, and when she said no, I jokingly asked if she wanted to adopt me, and she immediately and seriously offered to let me stay with her family as long as I wanted! She told me if my family came and visited and needed somewhere to stay she had plenty of rooms, and was the most inviting, kind woman I have ever met! It was a true experience of Italian hospitality that I will not forget.

This entire field trip was an amazing day, and I would rank my favorite stop as the balsamic vinegar, then the parmigiano reggiano, and lastly the prosciutto. It felt very special to be able to get a view into this agricultural way of life, where the people who produced these special products were only one piece of generations of hard work and tradition. All of the stops had it in common that they business had been in the family for many years, which made each stop feel very important and historical. These products are some of the most famous that come from Italy, and I can see that it takes a lot of dedication and hard work to continue producing them the same as they were so many years ago.