REMARKABLE QUALITIES
Parmigiano-Reggiano conciliates gastronomists and doctors, poets and
writers, virtuosos and gourmets, and nutrition technicians.
More often than not, the gastronomic delights of the hearty eater earn
disapproving head-shakes from the dieticians. Fulsome praise goes to the
cook, but the tempting spread may, if there is a doctor among the guests,
bring warning remarks about delicacies which spend moments in the mouth,
hours in the stomach, and a lifetime in fat deposits between the tissues.
Parmigiano-Reggiano is a happy exception to the rule. Highly nutritious
and full flavoured, it delights the most exacting connoisseur, both as
a dish on its own, and as a dressing for other foods. Quickly digested
and easily assimilated, dieticians often recommend it for children and
the elderly, not to mention those who are concerned with their figures.
What, then, is the secret of Parmigiano-Reggiano? How is this unusual
harmony achieved between nourishment and digestibility? Because it's a
completely natural food.
Every Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is a miniature storehouse of concentrated
nutriment. One kilogramme represents sixteen litres of high quality milk
produced in the "zona tipica". It is exceptionally rich in proteins,
lipids, calcium and phosphorus.
Milk is, of course, in itself a readily digestible food, owing to the
fact that its composition includes substances which help the system to
absorb the nutrients it contains.
This high-powered body-builder is moreover a live food; it functions as
an improving biochemical unit within which assimilative agents develop
simultaneously with the nutrients they introduce so kindly into even the
most delicate of systems. The refining is entirely spontaneous. No special
ingredient or artificial manipulation of temperature is allowed to interfere
with nature's process. This is one of the secrets of Parmigiano-Reggiano's
three vital characteristics: conservation of an extremely high food potential,
inimitable flavour and easy digestibility. Extensive research has been
conducted to determine the nutritive content of Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Proteins account for 36.14 percent, a higher figure than that of any other
type of cheese. The lipid content is also substantial, although not excessive
(28.3%), and the calcium content is extremely high (1.30%), as is that
of phosphorous (0.7%).
Parmigiano-Reggiano also has a well balanced range of vitamins. The caloric
value is 392 calories for 100 grammes. In short, Parmigiano-Reggiano has
an extremely high content of body building proteins and high quality fats,
plus an unusual concentration of vitamins and mineral salts.
GOOD FOR YOU AT ANY AGE
Biochemists and dieticians agree that Parmigiano-Reggiano holds a privileged
position among our natural products. It is recommended not only for a
variety of culinary uses (as a plain table cheese, as a dressing or ingredient
in exquisite and wholesome dishes, or as a dessert), but also as an important
component in prescribed diets to meet the special needs of sickness or
old age. Paediatricians, for example, advise mothers and nurses to enrich
baby foods with Parmigiano-Reggiano. During the subsequent years of growth,
the calcium, phosphorus and other vitamins and minerals of the cheese
provide excellent nutrition for the growing body.
Parmigiano-Reggiano should of course be included in any sensible adult
diet as well, not only as a basic ingredient of the Italian cuisine, but
even in a new way with pears, apples, peaches, figs, grapes, etc. It is
an ideal food because it includes a substantial number of food elements
necessary for sustenance and especially because it ensures excellent bodily
well-being.
This has led athletics trainers and sport dieticians to discover the special
contribution Parmigiano-Reggiano provides for the diet of athletes and
people who practise sport, precisely because it is nutritious without
weighing down and is easily digested.
A GENUINE AND WHOLESOME FOOD
Natural
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is as natural a food as can be found anywhere
in the civilised world. Its development involves nothing more contrived
than effort and ingenuity of craftsmen: the cheesemaker's art has no need
to add to its raw material any chemical ingredient, or to resort to the
use of modern machinery. No anti-fermentative agents are added to the
high quality milk, which is used in its pristine state; sweet and fresh
from the cow. And the rennet, too, is a natural product (from the stomach
of nursing calves). All that follows is the action of the heat and the
artisan's ancient skills. Equally important, however, is the fact that
the ageing process itself follows the laws of nature exactly. No foreign
substances or artificial manipulations of temperature or humidity intervene,
either to speed up or to curb the process. Even the marking is done without
inks or colouring substances: the repeated wording is imprinted on the
sides by the sheer pressure of the matrix on the cheese during its formative
stages, and the oval mark certifying its origin is branded with fire.
Genuine
Individuality is completely assured in the case of Parmigiano-Reggiano.
This aspect is guaranteed by a number of elements which have been illustrated
above. May we recapitulate:
It is a regional speciality of the "zona tipica" area, a territorial
unit that is controlled and protected comprising the provinces of Parma,
Reggio Emilia, Modena, Mantova on the right bank of the Po river and Bologna
on the left bank of the Reno river. The nature of the country, its agricultural
and cattlebreeding traditions, form an ideal environmental unit, exclusive
to that zone, from which the special qualities of the milk (needing a
high content of casein for Parmigiano-Reggiano production) are derived.
The methods used are constant and conditioned by loyalty to a recorded
standard of craftsmanship which has been handed down through seven centuries.
The maturing process, which is allowed to follow its spontaneous course
for 12 to 24 months or more.
The legal guarantee and the control exercised over production and sales
by the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese Consorzio (by government decree), upon
whom that responsibility devolves.
All this serves to ensure that no Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese could possibly
be counterfeit.
Unique
This definition has been stressed at the outset, where we defined its
meaning by showing that no other cheese can point to such a venerable
history, culture, and tradition, with the record of enduring demand this
implies. The unique quality of Parmigiano-Reggiano extends to the methods
by which it is made, to the long, slow maturing, strangely appropriate
to so historic a delicacy; to the extraordinarily concentrated food value,
to the old-world flavour and other remarkable traits which enable us to
call Parmigiano-Reggiano the only cheese of its kind in the world, because
it's a masterpiece of nature which never ceases to amaze.
A GREAT TABLE CHEESE
Parmigiano-Reggiano has always played an important role in fine Italian
cuisine and in the more widespread Mediterranean diet, thanks to its marked
versatility that sets it among the most classic table cheeses. Pasta and
rice dishes are rarely served without it; Italy's famous minestrone owes
much of its special aroma to this cheese. Every Italian housewife thinks
of Parmigiano-Reggiano as a basic ingredient in her own personal repertoire
of recipes, which can include anything from antipasto dishes to meats,
greens, pies or sauces. As a table cheese, it is second to none. With
the fullness and delicacy of its flavour, Parmigiano-Reggiano is at its
finest eaten plain, in the classic style accompanied by a ripe pear, or
with apples, peaches, figs, grapes, walnuts, and kiwi fruit. Abroad, it
is often served in small squares with cocktails and aperitifs.
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info@latterianuovamandrio.it
© Latteria Nuova Mandrio
info@latterianuovamandrio.it