Page 72 - Dreamscapes Magazine | Fall/Winter 2024

DID YOU KNOW?
The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium identifies six fast rules for sourcing true Parmigiano Reggiano:
• Check the rind for a series of
small, stamped dots.
• Look for the official Parmigiano
Reggiano label.
• Authentic Parmigiano Reggiano
has a granular texture that is firm and crumbly with a mild nutty sweet taste.
• Smell a nutty aroma that should not be strong or off-putting.
• A golden-yellow colour; anything too pale or too dark has additives.
• Check for the certification mark found on the rind.
72 DREAMSCAPES FALL/WINTER 2024
Parmigiano Reggiano has to be a minimum of 12 months. Today, the Consorzio del Parmigiano Reggiano represents roughly 1,000 cheese masters (casari), each officially regarded as Italy’s King of Cheese.
Cheese Please
In Parma, at the Ristorante Cocchi, the capon consommé, known as anolini soup, is legendary at this family-run roadside hotel restaurant, and tonight it’s on show. A favourite of soccer legend David Beckham, the golden broth bathes these bobbing veal pasta bambinos that
are dusted by the obligatory grated formaggio parmigiano (parmesan cheese).
“We have had a difficult time to promote this very important cheese status,” shares Benedetto Colli, spokesperson for the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium, the organization tasked to protect and promote this agri-bio cheese industry to a wider audience. However, he adds that Canada is becoming a growing market as I watch him spoon a mountainous heaping of the everyman’s staple into his soup. “The more, the better,” he smiles.
Parma Cooks
Along the Po River there’s a heritage farmhouse, the establishment of Chef Antonio Di Vita whose Parma Rotta is the setting for my pasta-making class. “It’s all in the wrist, shoulders and legs,” he explains as I start kneading dough into a gluti- nous ball for tortelli, tagliatelle and scialatielli. Amid framed polychrome plates of Dante’s Divine Comedy and Via Crucis by Venturino Venturi, the outcome naturally will be a delivery system for finely grated chef-approved Parmigiano Reggiano aptly sourced from Bertinelli.
Months after my return home I nibble on a 36-month aged parmesan cheese—its salt crys- tals dancing in the light. While my Parma trip is now but a fond memory, thankfully only a few blocks away a cheesemonger is selling Italy’s King of Cheese. DS
TRAVEL PLANNER
For more travel information about Emilia-Romagna tourism see emiliaromagnaturismo.it. Cheese factory tours at Caseificio Bertinelli require advanced online bookings. For tours and more Parmigiano Reggiano information, visit parmigianoreggiano.com. Air Canada has up to five times weekly year-round service from Montreal to Milan. Aircanada.com
PHOTOS: ANTICA CORTE PALLAVICINA/ALESSANDRO GANDOLFI | THE CONSORTIUM OF PARMIGIANO REGGIANO | ©FOTOCARRAPARMA | VANESSA CHIASSON