Independence Day 2023. I've been planning and worried about this day for 3 months.
Today's main activities:
Factory tour of 4 Madonnas Dairy Emilia to see how Parmigiano Reggiano is made.
Lunch at Trattoria Bianca
Tour of Acetaia di Giorgio to see how balsamic vinegar is made
Half the group went to the Ferrari Museum, I went to the Modena museum and Duomo Church.
While waiting for the masses, I saw this large bug.
Giovanni insisted on the 3 hours for the trip - here we are all in the van and on our way. (Sonia (V for victory), Renee, Mark behind Renee, Kimberlee in the middle of the back seat)
Even though we pushed back, he wouldn't budge. Sure enough there was no traffic and we arrived an hour early to the Dairy. This is my one and only picture of a sunflower field in bloom which I took along the way....
The good news was we were able to do some shopping that we wouldn't have time to do after the tour.
About Parmagian Reggianno -
The first record of Parmigiano-Reggiano is from 1254. Legend has it, that around 900 years ago, Benedictine monks, living in the Parma-Reggio region of Italy, created this cheese when they needed to find a way to extend the shelf-life of the large quantity of milk they were producing. During the 1300s and 1400s, these monks had a monopoly on parmesan cheese and would export it to different regions of Italy. As the cheese became more popular, it spread to the rest of Europe.
An EU court ruled that only cheese produced in the provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia as well as very limited areas in surrounding provinces are legally allowed to be called “parmesan.” This also ensures that all parmesan sold in the European Union is made using traditional methods and entirely manufactured in the Parma-Reggio area. The milk comes from three types of cow breeds: the Bruna Alpina brown cow, the Reggiana red cow, and the Bianca Modenese white cow. Because these breeds don't typically produce a lot of milk and because the traditional cows were on the verge of extinction, milk from Friesian Cows is also included in parmagian production. The three main areas for PR production are Modena, Parma and Reggio Emilio. Here's a map of the region and some cheese....
One of the leading dairies in the Modena area is the 4 Madonnas Dairy. It is part of the agricultural cooperative Lesignana in a hamlet of Modena. The dairy, founded in 1967, was named after a votive pillar located not far away that depicts a Madonna on all four sides.
It currently has 50 members farms, producing 350 thousand tons of milk corresponding to 65 thousand wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano per year. Of this, 4 thousand are produced with organic milk from 400 Red Cows Milk.
The tour was interesting, but was all behind a wall, so you couldn't get a lot of interaction with the product. The storage has to be done on wooden planks and there is a machine that dusts off the cheese and turns it over...
We got a demonstration on how they test the cheese to decide if it's suitable to be included in the "first ranking"
The best part was the tasting with prosecco - red and white - to wash it down. Very civilized. We didn't have a lot of time to enjoy it because we had to rush to the restaurant.
We had an hour for lunch. We tried to pre-order, but wasn't possible, so I had everyone choose their lunch last night so I could just give the order in immediately upon arrival. The restaurant was in a weird part of the city, but was very pretty. There were formal settings and table clothes. The funniest thing was the other patrons - all were male and rather dressed up. There were no other women in the restaurant other than the servers. Lunch was wonderful, but was expensive. The frustration was that there were no prices on the website, so people were "blind ordering". This was fine for everyone except the Hauffmans who don't have a lot of money, didn't understand what they were ordering, and didn't enjoy what they ordered. Someone said it had Michelin stars, but I didn't see it on the list. Prosciutto and melon for me.
The Acetaia di Giorgio was nothing like what I expected. The Acetaia is owned by the Barbieri family and is located under the roof of their original residence built in 1870 located in the Modena city center. There were 14 brothers and sisters and now the operation is run by the son-in-law. This house was like an oasis of calm in the middle of the city and a place where we could take a breath. You could see part of the original mosaic floor and decorations of the house before we went up to the attic.
Balsamic in about 250 small concerns in the Modena area. It is always aged in barrels in the attic areas of the houses. This particular company production barrels' are sometimes a hundred years old. It is made from either red or white grapes.
The production is limited and there is always about 1/3 of the vinegar left in the barrel at production. Only about 4000 liters is produced each year. The vinegar is very thick. Although the vinegar was wonderful, it was too expensive and I didn't like the taste, so I didn't buy any.
Giovanni dropped Sonia, Solita and I off in downtown Modena where we walked to the Duomo church museum. It was too hot and there was no shade. The entry to the museum was 4Euro and I got in for free as the "guide". The Museum wasn't even worth 1 Euro, but there were some interesting hermaphrodite sculptures - not something I'd expect to see at a church....
The church, which was free, was amazing. It turns out it is a UNESCO heritage site.
We had time between seeing the church and getting picked up. We saw Nadine, Tracy and Omar on the street who recommended an ice cream place. We went too - happiness is....
Along the way, we saw a street with umbrellas hanging from wires.
We decided to walk back to try to find the street with the umbrellas, but got a call that the car was headed back, so we hoofed it to the meeting point.
I guess Modena was the birth place of Pavarotti, so had to take a picture of his statue
The other half of our group went to the Ferrari museum and had a turn in the simulator. I think this is Renee and Mark.
There was a much shorter drive back, again with no traffic. Upon arrival we learned there was still no luggage for Kimberlee or Croones. Kimberlee's luggage at least found and status has changed out of "unknown".
Dinner was a really wonderful mushroom risotto with cheese dish of which I had about 4 servings....
After dinner I forced myself to join the rest of the group who were outside smoking and drinking. They started a revolt about leaving tomorrow for the Parma train at 6:50am. I also thought this was too early, but the driver, who had other commitments, didn't want to leave later. Anyway I gave the team options: use Giovanni, use taxi, someone in the group drive us, and asked, if another used, someone else arrange it. No response. Finally everyone agreed to using Giovanni at 7 because. no one else wanted to do any of the re-organizing. BTW, I was trying to finalize with Giovanni for about 3 months.
Off early to bed with another view of the moon from my bed.
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