Friday April 27, 2007 5:00 p.m.
Another fine day in Parma. Lisa and I awoke early today to enjoy the wonderful continental breakfast. It was one of the better ones that I have had. (now Lisa writing) There was an automatic coffee machine you could have tea, cappuccino (italiano), caffé Americano, hot water, hot chocolate. They had a few different kinds of breads, a toaster, nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread), lots of different jellies, hams, boil your own eggs in a vat of boiling water with a timer, CEREAL with MILK, fruit, yogurt, biscuits (cookies you eat with your coffee), melba toast, red orange juice made from Sicilian blood oranges (I think we had these in Florence). It was a pretty good spread and not busy when we passed through. We got the machine cappuccino we saw the other people get caffé espresso from a lady away from the food at the bar, coffee bar that is. Luke took a handful of no cal sugar, we both took nutellas for our own use. It was a nice breakfast.
We had to scoot as we had the 8.15 appointment at the parmesan cheese place. We drove thanks to the Tom Tom GPS direction giver. Found the right area within a reasonable amount of time, it was relatively close to the hotel, without too much hassle. There was another couple waiting to take the tour with us. They were in their 50s and from California. There was supposed to be another couple too, but they didn’t show. The lady tour guide (Ingrisa or something) handed us our attire.
There is a plastic jacket with snaps and blue shoe covers, a coffee filter hat for hair control and we were not required to wear the mask. By this time, I was SO very excited to partake in the parmesan cheese tour. When we got to go in the work area (it is not a factory- just run by farmers). We saw the vats that held 1200 L (or 317 gallons) of milk. And all that milk to make 2 wheels of cheese. The vats were big, but they were deceiving, as the vats were conical and descended below the ground level were the cheese makers were standing at. They had the milk where each vat is 1 farmer’s milk, (so if there is contamination with the cows milk or if they eat bad hay) it won’t wreck the whole days production.
The farmers work everyday- the cows can’t take a vacation. They milk twice daily of course and bring in the milk with in 2 hours of milking to keep it at its freshest. The morning milk is dumped in the vat, they use last nights milking that was skimmed after it sat all night. So you get “part skim” cheese. They want some of the fat from the am, but not all the fat from the pm batch. They add the rennet which is an enzyme that is reconstituted from suckling cows’ bellies from when they are slaughtered. The enzyme makes the milk curdle so they can digest it. So they add the rennet and heat it up a bit, stir it and watch it, let it set like an hour, stir it some more. Then they scoop the cheese chunk from the bottom with a HUGE oar and the helper scoops it up with a piece of cloth- oh, cheese cloth, and let it drain a bit and then they cut the cheese in half and make rough balls with the cheese cloth. They let it sit and then stuff it into forms (unfortunately I didn’t get to see this part). They put it into forms the next day or 2, then put it into metal forms and put plastic rim around it that has the date printed in raised pokies and has “Parmigiano Reggiano” written on it. The name is so special because only cows that live in the area and the cows can only eat food grown in the area can make cheese called Parmigiano Reggiano.
We were then taken to the brining room; they had eighteen 5 feet by 40 foot salt water swimming pools for the cheese wheels. They sit in sea salt brine for 22 days. Then they go to the cheese room. This one is my favorite. This is where all the cheese wheels are placed on shelves 40 feet tall. The smell in that room is unbelievable. Some of it is probably due to the humidity required to maintain adequate aging. The cheese ages at least 12 months to 30 some months.
The cheese gets flipped at least daily, and they have a machine to do it now. I guess it was a big pain in the neck for the workers to do. Can you imagine climbing up and down from the ladder? The wheels weigh 60 pounds I believe. That would make big muscles. I took a lot of pictures. You should have seen me smile, I was so happy. I asked our nice English born tour guide if we could have a piece of the cheese that was just taken and formed from the vats. She asked the dudes and they obliged. It tasted like cottage cheese or something. It needed to be dipped in the salt brine for a sec. and that would have made it better. I was so happy. We went into the gift store and got some lemonciello and some cheese. This we’ll save and keep for use in the USA. Can’t wait!
We hopped in the car and went off to search for the Pasta Barilla plant.
The TomTom GPS was not so much use for this part. It was taking us on the equivalent of a country gravel road. It was paved- I’ll give that much but it was 1 car width and we were following a tractor. We thought we may get there in the end but eventually had to turn around and turn off the GPS because it was directing us to take roads that are no longer there. We luckily could see Pasta Barilla. We had to use our brain and we got there, and a half hour early. Luke was wondering what this spot was on his pocket front of his pants. I told him it was probably just water from when he washed after using the toilet at the Parmesan place. He put the keys in his pocket and then took them out. He still had a butter packet from breakfast in his pocket. It had been warm and intact until we sat in the car. Then it squirted all over the keys and the hotel card and other stuff. I was really chuckling. I couldn’t laugh because lukie would feel bad. I thought it was hilarious. We used the tide pen and cleaned him and the stuff up well enough. Eventually we went into the complex and went through 2 barricaded entries and had to show ID to the dude at the tower. He called for Claudio Scala who was to give us the tour. Claudio is in his middle 30s, didn’t know much English but he knew how to give tours about his machinery in English. There is the largest pasta making place in the world. They make 120 shapes of pasta. They do semolina and egg based pastas. We had to put on a paper jacket and a hat again. He took us into the very noisy plant and showed us how the pasta was squeezed out into shape and cut to size and measured for QA and packaged and shipped. They have a storage area that is completely human free. Machines to all the stacking and organizing of the stock, that sounded pretty neat, we didn’t get to see that. Luke was so very interested in the plant, you could see the smile on his face, his eyebrows were raised and he was bouncy. He likes to know how things are made. Claudio brought us back to the changing room and didn’t really tell us the tour was complete cause he didn’t know how to say in English (we were lucky to get an English tour in the first place).
I took a picture of Luke in front of a huge silo with the sign on it. We would have taken more pictures but I don’t think we could have with corporate secrecy and stuff. We were grateful for the tour. It ended kind of abruptly like I described, a little less than an hour. We exited the compound and arrived to the Holiday Inn Express Compound at 1130.
We saw a pheasant in the hotel driveway that would not get out of the way. I (being the shutterbug I am) took a picture of him next to the hotel sign. While taking the picture, I saw something else that was kind of scary…A lizard! He was little and trying to scurry away (unlike the pheasant). Luke had to honk at the bird and eventually he left. What is interesting also is that on the way to the cheese farm- we almost HIT a pheasant. That would not have been good with the rental. Luke would have had to pick out feathers from the grill.
We went into the Hotel to perhaps to have lunch, but we changed our mind. We chose to go out for lunch so we wouldn’t have to eat so late (restaurants reopen around 7 pm for the evening meal) and because we wouldn’t have to spend so much money. Luke found a recommended restaurant called Trattoria Corrieri. It was pretty close to our parking ramp from what the map said. We walked around a bit and kind of looked for it a while, eventually finding it. It looked like a nice place. It had tons of seating if that is any indication as to how popular it is. We sat in the garden area. It was shaded by vines on an over head trellis of fine net wires. It provided enough shade and still let some sun through. The menu prices were €7 for each course. I had Risotto Parmisano, and Luke had Gramigna con salsiccia (homemade noodles and sausage). My risotto was a very large serving and delicious and mild, Luke’s was very good too. For secondi (second course) I chose Stracotto de Cavallo con polenta (roasted horse and polenta is like a corn meal porridge that I was interested in trying). Luke chose Bolliti Misti con Salse which was mixed meats with sauces.
The meats were very questionable. Even when we asked we were not sure what they were. One was chicken or pheasant, another was horse, the others is anyone’s guess. One was tongue and tasted tender but I kind of gagged when I swallowed it caused it was tongue. The selection of braised meats, including the tongue was a pigeon leg, a boar sausage, horse, some sort of fatty meat with huge veins, and some polenta with brains. That is what I thought she told me after I asked about it. My stomach is still kind of turning thinking about the chow. Along with all these meats was a plate of three “sauces”. Well, the sauces turned out to be a bowl of tomato paste, some sort of parsley/basil pesto, and a sweet sauerkraut type sauce. These really weren’t sauces, they were more weird than anything. Plus they were cold. So I was totally turned off by this meal. I won’t do that again, but it was a learning experience. For dessert we had we ended up getting tiramisu and two caffé mochiato’s. Basically espresso with a little bit of steamed milk. I was surprised by the bill. It ended up being about 46€. So it wasn’t that bad. After we paid for our stuff, we took off to back towards the car. We ended up spending some time in the square that houses the National Museum of Parma. We sat around and watched the pigeons dink around. We then walked across the river to the large park that Parma has and sat around and people watched. Most of the people there in the park were high school kids and old people. Others were just passing through on their bikes. It was nice to just sit in the park and watch people dink around. Lisa also noticed that her awesome Ecco sandals are starting to wear, they actually have a hole in the ball of the foot. 
After we were getting tired, we got up and went back to the car. And then we realized that it was close to five, and it was bumper to bumper for a while, but we made it back home. I decided not to go back to the grocery store until later tonight, because the traffic was so horrible. I wouldn’t be able to get in our out. My stomach isn’t settling down with that dinner either. So now we are just sitting around waiting for the room to cool off, and maybe head to the grocery store. We will buy some more pop and wine I suppose. Since it is only ninety cents. Yippee! Tomorrow will be the tour of the Prosciutto Museum and more relaxing, and then we are off to Volterra, where we might have internet, we may not. Later ljf
We had to scoot as we had the 8.15 appointment at the parmesan cheese place. We drove thanks to the Tom Tom GPS direction giver. Found the right area within a reasonable amount of time, it was relatively close to the hotel, without too much hassle. There was another couple waiting to take the tour with us. They were in their 50s and from California. There was supposed to be another couple too, but they didn’t show. The lady tour guide (Ingrisa or something) handed us our attire.
There is a plastic jacket with snaps and blue shoe covers, a coffee filter hat for hair control and we were not required to wear the mask. By this time, I was SO very excited to partake in the parmesan cheese tour. When we got to go in the work area (it is not a factory- just run by farmers). We saw the vats that held 1200 L (or 317 gallons) of milk. And all that milk to make 2 wheels of cheese. The vats were big, but they were deceiving, as the vats were conical and descended below the ground level were the cheese makers were standing at. They had the milk where each vat is 1 farmer’s milk, (so if there is contamination with the cows milk or if they eat bad hay) it won’t wreck the whole days production.The farmers work everyday- the cows can’t take a vacation. They milk twice daily of course and bring in the milk with in 2 hours of milking to keep it at its freshest. The morning milk is dumped in the vat, they use last nights milking that was skimmed after it sat all night. So you get “part skim” cheese. They want some of the fat from the am, but not all the fat from the pm batch. They add the rennet which is an enzyme that is reconstituted from suckling cows’ bellies from when they are slaughtered. The enzyme makes the milk curdle so they can digest it. So they add the rennet and heat it up a bit, stir it and watch it, let it set like an hour, stir it some more. Then they scoop the cheese chunk from the bottom with a HUGE oar and the helper scoops it up with a piece of cloth- oh, cheese cloth, and let it drain a bit and then they cut the cheese in half and make rough balls with the cheese cloth. They let it sit and then stuff it into forms (unfortunately I didn’t get to see this part). They put it into forms the next day or 2, then put it into metal forms and put plastic rim around it that has the date printed in raised pokies and has “Parmigiano Reggiano” written on it. The name is so special because only cows that live in the area and the cows can only eat food grown in the area can make cheese called Parmigiano Reggiano.
We were then taken to the brining room; they had eighteen 5 feet by 40 foot salt water swimming pools for the cheese wheels. They sit in sea salt brine for 22 days. Then they go to the cheese room. This one is my favorite. This is where all the cheese wheels are placed on shelves 40 feet tall. The smell in that room is unbelievable. Some of it is probably due to the humidity required to maintain adequate aging. The cheese ages at least 12 months to 30 some months.
The cheese gets flipped at least daily, and they have a machine to do it now. I guess it was a big pain in the neck for the workers to do. Can you imagine climbing up and down from the ladder? The wheels weigh 60 pounds I believe. That would make big muscles. I took a lot of pictures. You should have seen me smile, I was so happy. I asked our nice English born tour guide if we could have a piece of the cheese that was just taken and formed from the vats. She asked the dudes and they obliged. It tasted like cottage cheese or something. It needed to be dipped in the salt brine for a sec. and that would have made it better. I was so happy. We went into the gift store and got some lemonciello and some cheese. This we’ll save and keep for use in the USA. Can’t wait!We hopped in the car and went off to search for the Pasta Barilla plant.
The TomTom GPS was not so much use for this part. It was taking us on the equivalent of a country gravel road. It was paved- I’ll give that much but it was 1 car width and we were following a tractor. We thought we may get there in the end but eventually had to turn around and turn off the GPS because it was directing us to take roads that are no longer there. We luckily could see Pasta Barilla. We had to use our brain and we got there, and a half hour early. Luke was wondering what this spot was on his pocket front of his pants. I told him it was probably just water from when he washed after using the toilet at the Parmesan place. He put the keys in his pocket and then took them out. He still had a butter packet from breakfast in his pocket. It had been warm and intact until we sat in the car. Then it squirted all over the keys and the hotel card and other stuff. I was really chuckling. I couldn’t laugh because lukie would feel bad. I thought it was hilarious. We used the tide pen and cleaned him and the stuff up well enough. Eventually we went into the complex and went through 2 barricaded entries and had to show ID to the dude at the tower. He called for Claudio Scala who was to give us the tour. Claudio is in his middle 30s, didn’t know much English but he knew how to give tours about his machinery in English. There is the largest pasta making place in the world. They make 120 shapes of pasta. They do semolina and egg based pastas. We had to put on a paper jacket and a hat again. He took us into the very noisy plant and showed us how the pasta was squeezed out into shape and cut to size and measured for QA and packaged and shipped. They have a storage area that is completely human free. Machines to all the stacking and organizing of the stock, that sounded pretty neat, we didn’t get to see that. Luke was so very interested in the plant, you could see the smile on his face, his eyebrows were raised and he was bouncy. He likes to know how things are made. Claudio brought us back to the changing room and didn’t really tell us the tour was complete cause he didn’t know how to say in English (we were lucky to get an English tour in the first place).I took a picture of Luke in front of a huge silo with the sign on it. We would have taken more pictures but I don’t think we could have with corporate secrecy and stuff. We were grateful for the tour. It ended kind of abruptly like I described, a little less than an hour. We exited the compound and arrived to the Holiday Inn Express Compound at 1130.
We saw a pheasant in the hotel driveway that would not get out of the way. I (being the shutterbug I am) took a picture of him next to the hotel sign. While taking the picture, I saw something else that was kind of scary…A lizard! He was little and trying to scurry away (unlike the pheasant). Luke had to honk at the bird and eventually he left. What is interesting also is that on the way to the cheese farm- we almost HIT a pheasant. That would not have been good with the rental. Luke would have had to pick out feathers from the grill.
We went into the Hotel to perhaps to have lunch, but we changed our mind. We chose to go out for lunch so we wouldn’t have to eat so late (restaurants reopen around 7 pm for the evening meal) and because we wouldn’t have to spend so much money. Luke found a recommended restaurant called Trattoria Corrieri. It was pretty close to our parking ramp from what the map said. We walked around a bit and kind of looked for it a while, eventually finding it. It looked like a nice place. It had tons of seating if that is any indication as to how popular it is. We sat in the garden area. It was shaded by vines on an over head trellis of fine net wires. It provided enough shade and still let some sun through. The menu prices were €7 for each course. I had Risotto Parmisano, and Luke had Gramigna con salsiccia (homemade noodles and sausage). My risotto was a very large serving and delicious and mild, Luke’s was very good too. For secondi (second course) I chose Stracotto de Cavallo con polenta (roasted horse and polenta is like a corn meal porridge that I was interested in trying). Luke chose Bolliti Misti con Salse which was mixed meats with sauces.
The meats were very questionable. Even when we asked we were not sure what they were. One was chicken or pheasant, another was horse, the others is anyone’s guess. One was tongue and tasted tender but I kind of gagged when I swallowed it caused it was tongue. The selection of braised meats, including the tongue was a pigeon leg, a boar sausage, horse, some sort of fatty meat with huge veins, and some polenta with brains. That is what I thought she told me after I asked about it. My stomach is still kind of turning thinking about the chow. Along with all these meats was a plate of three “sauces”. Well, the sauces turned out to be a bowl of tomato paste, some sort of parsley/basil pesto, and a sweet sauerkraut type sauce. These really weren’t sauces, they were more weird than anything. Plus they were cold. So I was totally turned off by this meal. I won’t do that again, but it was a learning experience. For dessert we had we ended up getting tiramisu and two caffé mochiato’s. Basically espresso with a little bit of steamed milk. I was surprised by the bill. It ended up being about 46€. So it wasn’t that bad. After we paid for our stuff, we took off to back towards the car. We ended up spending some time in the square that houses the National Museum of Parma. We sat around and watched the pigeons dink around. We then walked across the river to the large park that Parma has and sat around and people watched. Most of the people there in the park were high school kids and old people. Others were just passing through on their bikes. It was nice to just sit in the park and watch people dink around. Lisa also noticed that her awesome Ecco sandals are starting to wear, they actually have a hole in the ball of the foot. 
After we were getting tired, we got up and went back to the car. And then we realized that it was close to five, and it was bumper to bumper for a while, but we made it back home. I decided not to go back to the grocery store until later tonight, because the traffic was so horrible. I wouldn’t be able to get in our out. My stomach isn’t settling down with that dinner either. So now we are just sitting around waiting for the room to cool off, and maybe head to the grocery store. We will buy some more pop and wine I suppose. Since it is only ninety cents. Yippee! Tomorrow will be the tour of the Prosciutto Museum and more relaxing, and then we are off to Volterra, where we might have internet, we may not. Later ljf
2 comments:
Bariilla sounds fascinating and so does the parmesan cheese factory!!! I did not like the looks of that food on the plate- the meat plate I guess is what it was!! The pheasant looked ok.. but the other stuff kind of dicey!! My stomach just turns thinking of tongue.. mother would have liked it- she eats tongue sandwiches and tells me they are delicious!! Headed north today to a big 90th birthday bash for Great Aunt Rose- Grandma Barth's youngest sister.. My Godparents( Rose's daughter and son-in-law) Jim and Roseanne Pittman are throwing the party and I will get to see cousins I have not seen for years.. oh my head hurts just thinking about it!! We are busy here doing the floors- ripped out carpet and totally re-doing all floors- Al will stay home today with Calvin and try and finish up- getting a new kitty from Pam today.. Al is some ok with this- hope she is a good girl.. she is a black and white tuxedo- Calvin needs a pal as he wakes me at night to play and everything else.. hope this helps!!! Sorry I am a day behind.. time flies when you are having fun.. supposed to be around 80 today.. the warmest day yet.. Al caught some fish on Friday when he went fishing... the season has begun... later gaters.. sounds like you are having fun.. love you, Mom
horse meat? yikes.got home ok about midnight.went to auction on sat.and home about 7.went to bed at 8:30.lisa i am amazed at all the italian you know!all the relatives at the auction has enjoyed your blog,especially the details of what you eat. Siena was nice,not as touristy as florence but busy.rick's info.was confusing but we found our way on foot and got back about 7.we had the rapida bus so took a little over an hour to get there. toured the campo and sat on the plaza, toured duomo which was full of art work on the floor and walls.the A/C in the hotel was not turned on either and it was hot in there even with the balcony doors open.we even got cnn and sky1 news on the tv.sounds like you are having fun with the driving.it think it was better is scotland even if we were on the wrong side of the road.our bus driver to siena must have been on drugs-he was driving so fast but the driver back was good and we sat in the top of the double decker bus. i wonder how guiseppe is doing.i wouldn't hire him!! hope you find a place to post to your blog since you are not in the big city. talk soon.love mom
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