Sette: Seven

SAY CHEEEEEESE :)

Alyssa and I and lots of yummy, stinky, old cheese :)

You can see both layers of the barrel, which will make sense later.

Vinegar being aged.

Hey dad... Got any more meat? Haha

Breaking the curds while cooking the cheese.



Ciao!
I haven’t written in too long, so I hope I remember everything of interest that I’ve done!
On Friday the 4th, Alyssa and I did a trip through our school here. We went to a Parmigiano Reggiano producer in Reggio Emilia, a prosciutto producer in Parma, and a producer of Aceto Basalmico Tradizionale di Modena. All of these products are only produced in these specific parts of Italy because of food regulations. All of these towns are close to each other, but they are a few hours from Florence, so we met on the bus at 5:30 am and took off. I slept the whole way there, of course. We went to the Parmesan producer, first. This was probably my favorite visit. The Parmigiano Reggiano is so good because the milk they use is so good. Their cows are milked twice a day and are only fed grasses. The milk is used right after milking, as is. The only ingredients in the cheese are fresh milk, whey, a natural enzyme from a cow’s stomach, rennet, and salt. We saw how they cook the cheese, mold it, salt it, and age it. There are all sorts of regulations concerning what is quality Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and we learned about the different qualities and ages. We also tasted two cheeses, one that was aged for two years, the other for three. Yum! They gave us our own little cheese knives, too.

Next it was to the prosciutto producer. It was hard to understand the guy who was telling us about it, but basically they get a pigs back legs and refrigerate them a bit, then refrigerate them more at a higher temperature, and then in a barely cold room. Then they dry out some more. Tons of raw, dried pig legs. I thought of my dad when we were there, so that picture is a shout out to you, Pops! That was about all there was to it. Haha. We ate there and got to have bread and prosciutto and pasta and wine… good stuff!

Lastly was the producer of the balsamic vinegar. They gave us the history of the company and showed us where the vinegar is aged. They only use grapes that have been cooked for two days in their classic vinegar, and then they age it. The classic is aged for 12 years! The aging is in the attic, not the cellar, and the vinegar is in barrels. It moves from a large barrel down to a small one, with lots of intermediate sizes. The smallest barrel would sell for 30,000 Euros! And that is without any vinegar in it! The barrel we were looking at when the woman explained this had been in the business since 1890. When the barrels begin to leak, they don’t replace them, but they build a new barrel around the outside! The barrel from 1890 had another casing that was put on in the 1950s. We also got to sample vinegars. One of the ones we tried was the Aceto Basalmico Tradizionale di Modena Extra Vecchio. It was aged for 25 years! I had vinegar older then I am. :)
One other interesting thing about vinegar is that as long as it is bottled in Modena, not necessarily made there, but if it is bottled in Modena a company can put “di Modena” on it. That’s why and cheap grocery store balsamic vinegar says “di Modena” on it. To say “Aceto Basalmico Tradizionale di Modena” on it, it must be aged correctly within the certain restrictions. That was definately a cool trip. Learned a lot about food and got to see how it is made. I had lots of old, aged things to eat that day!

That weekend I also went to the photo exhibition I previously wrote about. It was small, but the pictures were great. They were all from the last century. There was a group of pictures taken by the church by our house, which was cool to see.

It was Alyssa’s birthday Sunday, so we went out Saturday to celebrate. We met “the Soggy Bottom boys” at the bar we went to. Haha. It was Carnevale and there were three guys dressed as the soggy bottom boys. They were nice, and one of them was a DJ who told us to go back when he was playing. We did go back last night. He played 50’s records. This bar is a café/bar, but it is a cute place with a fun vibe. They have live music there sometimes, which is nice too. On Alyssa’s actual birthday we took her out to Gusta Pizza. It’s on our block and known for having some of the best pizza. We had not been, but it is now a fave! It was delicious. We also had cake and gelato. Happy Birthday, Alyssa!

This is getting long winded! I also went to the Medici Palace and the Bardini Gardens this last week. I have midterms this coming week, so this weekend is going to include lots of reading and studying! So long for now…