PARMIGGIANO REGGIANO DOP

DESCRIPTION, HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DOP
Parmigiano Reggiano is among the oldest and richest cheeses known. It is produced today essentially the same as it was a thousand years ago: with the same ingredients (milk, salt and rennet), with the same artisan care and with a production technique that has changed little over the centuries, thanks to the decision to maintain a completely natural production process, without the use of additives.
What strongly binds Parmigiano Reggiano to its area of origin and makes it so that in no other place in the world can the same product be manufactured, even if the same production techniques were used, are the aspects associated to culture and tradition. It is first and foremost a microbiological characteristic that binds Parmigiano Reggiano to its area of origin.  Only raw milk produced in the area of origin is indeed used to produce Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.  It is a special milk, characterised by a unique and intense bacterial activity of the local microbial flora, influenced by environmental factors, especially by the forage, grass and hay from the area that account for the main feed of the cows dedicated to this specific production.
Its numerous properties are all linked to the intrinsic product quality: digestibility, high calcium content present in a bioavailable form, source of phosphorous, absence of additives and preservatives, source of minerals, organoleptic pleasantness and liking. Due to these characteristics, Parmigiano Reggiano is a fundamental food in the daily diet of everyone, from children to elderly people, including athletes who find in Parmigiano Reggiano a fully natural energy charge. Thanks to its production process, the King of Cheeses is also naturally lactose free already 48 hours from production since all its sugar (lactose) is transformed into lactic acid by lactic bacteria.
Only three ingredients are used to produce Parmigiano Reggiano: milk, salt and rennet. Milk is used raw, i.e. it does not undergo heat treatments, therefore it features all the richness of lactic ferments naturally present in it. The microbial flora composition is influenced by the environmental factors of the area of origin, especially by hay and the specific feeding of cattle. For the production of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, only calf rennet is used; rennet is obtained from the stomach of suckling calves (bacterial rennet is forbidden) and kitchen salt (sodium chloride). The use of any additives and selected bacterial starters is forbidden.
Parmigiano Reggiano has always been an expression of its land of origin and of Italy worldwide until its very origins, which are old and noble and date back to the Middle Ages. In particular, monks were the first producers of Parmigiano Reggiano, driven by the quest for a cheese featuring one main characteristic: that of lasting for a long time. They achieved this result by letting the cheese mass dry and increasing the wheel size, thus enabling the cheese to keep long and thus to travel, including far away from the production area. This feature has been Parmigiano Reggiano’s fortune, resulting in it travelling around the world for centuries to become an authentic expression of what we call today the Made in Italy agribusiness.  The first written evidence dates back to 1254 in a notarial deed found in the State Archives of Genoa where a the caseus parmensis, i.e. the cheese from Parma, is mentioned. The best known literary evidence dates back to 1344: Giovanni Boccaccio in the Decameron described the district of Bengodi and mentioned a mountain of “grated Parmesan” on which “Macaroni and ravioli”  were rolled, which is a clear indication of the product’s use in the kitchen.