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Time is an essential ingredient for us.
Gennari family
our fields
500 hectares of tilled land, in keeping with the best peasant tradition to produce the best fodder to feed our animals. The best milk to make Parmigiano Reggiano cheese can be obtained only with the right and strictly controlled diet.
our animals
In our modern farm, there are more than 1,600 animals of three different breeds – Friesian, Alpine Brown, Red Reggiana – fed with fodder harvested directly from our fields. This is all done to assure the utmost animal welfare and as a consequence top quality of the product we offer.
Our milk
The milk we use to make our Parmigiano Reggiano comes directly from our cowsheds and the rest from local suppliers who have been working with us for over 50 years. They are more than just business partners, they are also friends. Because we do not want to take shortcuts in our job: first and foremost, comes the quality of our products.
our processing
We define our processing as ‘extreme’: the little rennet we use comes from a 1953 recipe of father Sergio. We intentionally skim milk as little as possible, which makes production more demanding and breaking the curd more difficult.
A processing technique where the expertise and skills of the cheese maker still make a big difference compared to the support of modern technology. We then leave the cheese to rest in poplar cheese moulds, which guarantee slower heat transmission and gentler fermentation.
A processing technique where the expertise and skills of the cheese maker still make a big difference compared to the support of modern technology. We then leave the cheese to rest in poplar cheese moulds, which guarantee slower heat transmission and gentler fermentation.
Our Ageing Rooms
More than 50,000 wheels rest on fir wood shelves in our ageing rooms. Each ageing room stores cheese at different stages of ageing to ensure that the aromas released by ageing are absorbed by the other wheels, to create that truly unique flavour of our Parmigiano Reggiano. What is more, the high amount of moisture released by the more cheese wheels will help the aged wheels to retain a soft texture, which is an essential feature for us. Lastly, the moderate temperature control in the ageing rooms will allow the cheese wheels to be more exposed to the changing seasons, resulting in a more natural grain.
Tapping
Twelve months into ageing, an expert appointed by the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium will come to ‘tap’ each wheel and mark the best ones with the unmistakable brand. Finally, ours is no longer just cheese but truly becomes Parmigiano Reggiano. What’s more, from now on the wheels will be regularly ‘tapped’ by our staff to understand, based on the sound, which ones are best suited to continue ageing. |