Alastair Little, Richard Whittington

Parmigiano-Reggiano

Appears in
The Daily Mail Modern British Cookbook
The Daily Mail Modern British Cookbook

By Alastair Little and Richard Whittington

Published 1998

  • About
Parmesan is Italy’s most famous full-flavoured hard cheese. The true Parmigiano-Reggiano, pale yellow in colour, flecked with white, is a long-matured cows’-milk cheese made only in that part of the Po Valley which includes Parma, Mantova, Modena, Reggio-Emilia and Bologna. Any similar cheese made anywhere else cannot be described as Parmigiano Reggiano.

Because Parmesan is so hard, it is cut with a special sharp trowel from the huge 34.5-kg / 75-lb wheels in which it is produced. It is the finest of the so-called grana cheeses, hard cheeses which are usually grated and cooked, although the best Parmesan is also delicious eaten in a piece after a meal or shaved over salads or carpaccio.