Parmesan Cheese

So we check out of our old hotel in Correggio after 2 great nights enjoying the small village and its life. We head a little further west but only about 80 km today to village of Pallavicina about 30 km northwest of Parma and on the way we want to check out the traditional Parmesan cheese in this area. We come across one on the way as we travel on the small village roads past green fields and no cows. So where are the cows? well as it has been a later winter and spring has been so cold so they are still tucked up in sheds that can't be seen from the roads that we are traveling.

We pull into a factory and are greeted by a local Italian lady who speaks no english,  this is again the norm as we are not on the tourist tracks.

So it can't be that hard, in the counters are wheels off Parmesan cheese and the lady quickly work out that we are Aussie and are wanting to try some cheese.

We had only a few to try the first one was just like unsalted butter and is used in cooking and then we try the 3 aged one's that we have come for, a 22, 30 and a 36 month.

The difference was not so great the 22 is a good eating cheese and is a bit creamy and milder, the 30 was stronger and normally as eating and cooking and the 36 is the strongest and has developed a crystal texture and is normally for cooking but is beautiful with honey, it's was very crumbly and hard.  

So with the tasting over let's try to buy some, the lady gestured that we can have them cut to what ever size we want and they can be vacuumed bag and that we have to keep them in a fridge. Yep got all that we can achieve this as we have our flat pac esky and freezer blocks ready in the car waiting. It was agreed that we would get 250 grams of each and can enjoy them over the coming weeks, but we come out with  6 separate vacky blocks of 250 grams so missed something in the translation but what the hell. We have weeks to go and people to see so we will get ride of them anyway. So back to the car and are off once more.

Once we have wandered all over the country side it is amazing how a 80 km trip can take so long. We are still 40 Km out of Parma so it's time to hit the tollway for the first time other wise we will be late for this afternoon cooking classes. It was a bit daunting at first as it was 5 lanes each way in some places. Working from the slow lane now being in the far right and even though I have clocked up some 1300 km I'm still very cautious. It is still a bit off putting when some one comes up on your left side and is flying past at great speed.

Again with my hands welded to the steering wheel for the first 20 km until I get the feel of it and it time to get out of the slow truck lanes and start to over take myself. It's all backwards and the other driver just weave in and out of the traffic with meter to spare and not a blinker used..... So it back to the slower truck lanes where I'm feeling more comfortable until I need to over take another truck again but after 40km it's not so nerve racking now. The last 30 km to the cooking school is again back on small country roads. We pull into the small village and up a tree lined road to the  cooking school with a couple of hours to spare and time to explore before class.

In fact the place we are staying for a couple of nights featured on Master Chef last year when they took the top 10 to Italy. For the master chef watches it was the place that has the large kitchen garden and the 10 contestants walk into the courtyard over a large timber mote bridge through a brick archway and sat under a grape trellis looking at the George and Massimo cooking a tiny Guinea fowl wrapped in clay which the contestants got the mud/sand to make the clay wrap from the banks of the Po River then it was cooked in in the wood oven.

It was just the same as on TV the grand villa sitting behind the beautiful laid out vegetable garden, I'm going to love it here.