From the Cheese Portraits series.

Recently I was invited to accompany a friend to a special reception for the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium in NYC. The Consortium's main goal is to promote and protect this "King o fCheese", which gets counterfeited often, especially in American cheese counters. True Parmigiano Reggiano is a protected designation of origin; DOP. This cheese has been called "practically perfect food" and authentic only with that DOP marking. In America, education on this is just starting to get some traction; people are learning to value the slow food movement and the quality that comes with authenticity. Often this gets generic labels like just "Parmesan" , "Parm" or you see it miss-labeled as Grana padano, which production is less restricted and more affordable.

I learned a lot about this at the reception and even had a chance to speak with Nicola Bertinelli, president of the consortium. Italy cherishes their king of cheese and rightly so. I expect their continued goal of protection via education in the USA will help a lot. I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to learn more and of course Italians throw parties with the best food and drink; it was a great night!

Upon leaving, there was still an enormous amount of the nearly 100 lb wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano that got cracked open that day. I was thrilled to get this beautiful big wedge to take home. It's really like gold in cheese so I wanted to demonstrate some of that glow in back lighting it some. I absolutely love eating this perfectly sweet, nutty and fruity, barely salty and wonderfully textured aged goodness.

Origin: Italy

Availability: sold