Food Tour of Emelia Romagna - epicenter of food in Itlay

I only had one real day in Italy before flying to Turkey, and I made the most of it by getting a food tour of the Emelia-Romagna region located halfway between Milan and Bologna.

You've heard of it.  It's where Parmesan is made, Parma Ham is produced, Balsamic Vinegar was invented (and then bastardized for wider usage) and many a bottle of wine is still lovingly bottled.  I learned it's also the home base for the food authorities of the European Union - do you need any further proof that it is the center of a food universe and foodie paradise?

I rented a car and booked a tour where I ended up joining a Quebequoise family for the day.  They were lovely.  Angelo was our tour guide for the day and I cannot sing his praises loudly enough.  If you're ever in Italy, look this guy up!  He is a local but travels widely around the world and speaks flawless English.  Angelo rode with me, which means I almost got a private tour.  

Parmesan must be aged for
a minimum of 1 year

The first stop was a Parmesan cheese factory. I will spare you all the details, but you can probably guess that I really enjoyed this part of our tour.   I was constantly comparing and contrasting to the farm where I just came from.  This was still artisan production but slightly more commercialized than the very mom-and-pop shop at Roquecave.

If you want real Parmesan, you
have to buy the stuff that still
shows "Parmesan" imprinted
on the rind.
Everything else is an imitation.

This factory is a co-op with the dairy farmers who provide milk.  The cheese making process significantly upgrades the value of their milk, and they get a cut of the proceeds.   In return, the dairy farmers are required by Italian law to limit the food for their cows to all-natural, locally sourced grains, hay and grass.  They are not allowed to use hormones or antibiotics.  Anything else will disqualify the cheese from receiving the coveted DOG Parmesan label.  Unlike the French family at Roquecave, these guys don't get a break in the winter because cows produce milk year round.  So they make cheese starting at 8AM, 365 days a year, rain or shine, including Christmas and New Years. 

The process starts after the cheese has formed and the curd and whey have separated.  The cheese master is cutting the cheese in this video.  He's using an ancient tool to do it, and periodically checking the consistency of the "grains" of cheese curd that will now settle to the bottom of the copper basin.

Then the cheese makers pry the settled ball of cheese out of the bottom of the basin, into a cheese cloth. 

Then they cut the ball of cheese into 2 pieces, which happens to be the perfect size to press into the big wheels of Parmesan.

The Parmesan is dried for a couple of days to firm up the wheels, salted via a salt bath for 25-30 days, and aged for a minimum of 1 year before it's tested to determine if the quality is high enough to be labeled Parmesan.  Europeans enjoy Parmesan that is aged for 2 or 3 years, which makes it nuttier and more flavorful.  Our government only allows the 1 year old version to come to America.

Angelo describing the aging Parma
Ham on the top floor of the factory.
This room smelled heavenly.

Next stop was the Parma Ham factory.  We climbed up into the mountains for this one - apparently the altitude and temperature matters for the processing of the ham.  Here again, nothing is wasted.  The nutrient-rich leftover whey from the Parmesan cheese makers is given to the pigs that ultimately turn into the succulent, paper-thin sliced Parma Ham we love to eat.

Some of this process just
cannot be automated,
despite best efforts

More than a year after starting,
This is how you know it
is authentic Parma Ham

Like the cows supplying the Parmesan factory, the pigs supplying the Parma Ham factory are on a very strict, organic and local diet.  The traditions for making this ham date back for centuries and have been institutionalized by law now.  Angelo declared the only ingredients allowed in Parma ham are: pig, salt, air and time.  The only concession producers have made to modern times is that they now use climate controlled (ie refrigerated) rooms to store the ham during the salting and initial drying phases.  This change was made after WWII, and it is still mildly scandalous that they have deviated from tradition. Parma Ham, like Parmesan, must be aged for at least a year before it is allowed to be quality tested and branded with the Parma DOG symbol.

The next stop was a trattoria up the street from the Parma Ham factory, where I had some of the best pasta I've ever tasted.  Angelo brings people to this place because it's also his favorite place for pasta. 

The view from the foot of the road leading to the factory
The Langhirano region is beautiful.

The last stop was a visit to a traditional Balsamic Vinegar producer.  The balsalmic that you buy off the shelf is actually a version invented recently down the road in Modena.  It was invented because it is impossible to mass produce the traditional stuff.  The stuff you buy in grocery stores takes a lot of the flavors you would get if you tasted the original Balsalmic and mix them into wine vinegar: Voila!  Balsamic vinegar that you can actually afford to put in salad dressings and pour over vegetables around the world.  

It's not an optical allusion
The barrels get smaller in a set

The traditional stuff is actually cooked grape juice that is fermented for years to achieve that sweet, slightly tangy flavor.  They put the juice in the 1st barrel of a "set" to let some of the liquid evaporate off during the warmer summer months and then ferment during the cooler winter months.  Then they transfer the remaining liquid to the next, smaller barrel in the set.  Repeat this process every year for 5-20 years.  It's a chemical engineer's challenge:  How do you speed up a process that requires cyclic evaporation and fermentation stages while imbuing the liquid with flavors from the barrels of oak, cherry, chestnut or other woods?  Surely there has to be a way to make this go faster.

I am glad that I like, but don't love the traditional Balsalmic.  It is $50-150 per 3oz bottle and would be an expensive habit to form.

It was a great day spent in Italy.  I ate so well that I voluntarily skipped dinner that night and just packed up my stuff for my flight out of Bologna early the next morning.

Next stop: Turkey