Parmigiano Reggiano PGO of SOLA BRUNA

The main ingredient is, of course, the milk produced exclusively by Bruna di Montagna cows, fed with organic hay and green grass produced in our land. The whole milk from the morning milking is mixed with the milk from the previous evening, skimmed through a natural surfacing.

The milk is slowly heated and mixed with the whey, which is rich in live lactic ferments obtained from the whey of the previous day's milk processing. Once the temperature of 30 ° is reached, we add the rennet, a digestive enzyme of animal origin that works exclusively on the casein of the milk. The mix is then left to rest for about 8/10 minutes so that coagulation takes place (the entire liquid mass of the milk is transformed. in a state similar to that of medium-density yogurt).

Once the optimal density of the clot has been reached, assessed manually by the cheesemaker, the curd is finely broken into small pieces with a tool called SPINO, because in ancient times a hawthorn branch was used. This phase is particularly delicate, as an excessive or non-uniform size of the granules could result in the presence of holes in the finished cheese, which would cause the wheel to be discarded.

At this point we proceed with cooking at 55° for about 10-12 minutes, during which we proceed to make the granules lose moisture which will deposit on the bottom of the boiler. They will then be left to rest for about 50 minutes in order to compact the cheesy mass. After the time has elapsed, the cheesemaker extracts the curd with a wooden shovel and wraps it in a linen cloth. This is cut into two parts, which will become two forms of Parmigiano Reggiano.

The shapes of the day are turned twice by changing the canvas to dry them. The third time the cloth is removed and the plastic band released by the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium is inserted, which during the night will print the dots with the words Parmigiano Reggiano, the serial number, the month and year of production, the CE stamp and the word DOP. The next day the wheels are transferred to a special steel band which will give them the characteristic rounded shape and will remain there for one or two days.

After the 3rd day, the wheel is immersed in static brine (the salt penetrates by osmosis) and is left there for about 18 days.

During the seasoning phase, the wheels are placed on wooden boards in special rooms called "casere", where humidity is constantly controlled. For Parmigiano Reggiano, the minimum aging period is 12 months.