Italian Days Food Tour – Sat 10th Nov

We had an early start today for our bus tour to learn about some of the food specialties of the Moderna region. The 7 am pickup in Bologna was necessary so we would arrive at the Parmigiano-Reggiano factory in time to see the production. Parmigiano-Reggiano is made every morning with the previous evening’s milking and that morning’s milking. It only produced in the provinces of Parma, Emilio Reggio, Moderna, Bologna to the right of the river Reno and Mantua to the north of the river Po. The milk must come from these areas and the cows must only eat grass or hay from the area. They cannot be fed silage or fermented forage. Three ingredients are used, milk, salt and rennet and the cheese is aged a minimum of 12 months. Every wheel is approved by inspectors and stamped.

After seeing the cheese factory we drive down the road to Acetaia Caledonian, a family run business producing Balsamic vinegar since 1860. FYI if you are buying balsamic vinegar for dressing salad you want to look for one that only has two ingredients with the first being cooked wine and the second wine vinegar. But I’m getting ahead of myself, first we sat down to a big breakfast spread including parmigino-reggiano drizzled with DOP balsamic vinegar, croissants, piadinas and finishing with some still warm fresh ricotta (made from the whey leftover from the parmigiana-reggiano production) drizzled with balsamic vinegar. This was all washed down with “breakfast wine”—Lambrusco, a sparkling red wine.

Afterwards we went into the cellar to learn all about balsamic vinegar production which was fascinating. Balsamic vinegar is cooked wine that is aged in barrels. Each set needs at least five barrels. The first year they are all filled with cooked wine. At the end of the first year the wine that has evaporated in the fifth barrel is replaced by wine in the fourth barrel, the fourth barrel is then topped up by the third barrel and so on with the first barrel being topped up with new cooked wine. This process continues indefinitely, but once started must be continued in the same barrels. After twelve years 10% of the balsamic vinegar can be removed to sell. We also saw some of the sets of family barrels which are started when each child is born. Traditionally, they take them with them when they leave home.

Afterwards we drove to the prosciutto factory. There they make a variety of prosciutto including from non-Italian pigs, and various cuts. Prosciutto di Parma must be made from the back leg of Italian pigs with the bone in. The meat is salt cured and once cured it is inspected and stamped with the crown if it meets the quality requirements. Although very interesting, all that meat hanging was not pleasant, and the smell, while not terrible, was not great.

Our lunch started with a tasting of various parmas, and other antipasto, accompanied by a local sparkling white wine. Next there was tortelloni, then tortellini, tagliatelle ragu and finally lasagna Verdi (the one pasta specialty we had not yet tried). Each was accompanied by a different local wine. Finally we had tiramisu, coffee (but not for me) and grappa.

We rolled out of there and back into the bus. once back in Bologna, G and I decided to work off the food with a walk up to the Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca on a hill looking over Bologna. The walk is along the longest portico in the world, at almost 4km, the Portico of San Luca. It is a fairly steep uphill most of the way with lots of steps. We arrived just before sunset which lit up the red buildings spectacularly. Afterwards we had the long walk back into town. Once again gelato once our choice for dinner.