Many experts consider this the greatest cheese on the planet…The King of Cheeses. It is a magnificent artifact and Italian national treasure worthy of the loftiest accolades. A well-aged authentic Parmigiano-Reggiano has a hard, granular, crumbly, flaky paste; it is ideal for grating yet it melts in the mouth. Incredibly delicious and subtle, it offers a complex, mouth-tingling matrix of fragrant, vegetal, and savoury flavours that linger luxeriously on the palate. True Parmesan is sweeter, more moist and lower in salt that its many inferior imitators.
I am obsessed with this cheese and am often shocked when people don’t have it in their fridges. To me The King of Cheese is a staple along with milk and butter. Whenever I close my eyes and bite into this cheese I am brought back to my summer in Emilia Romagna Italy. I lived a few kilometers from Parma where all of this great stuff is made, in the town of Modena (where all of the best vinegar on earth is carefully crafted in oak barrels). I lived with a classic “Italian Grandmother” on this little balsamic farm. In the morning she would make a thin omelet topped with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano and drizzled with balsamic. Perfection!
