April 9

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Yesterday we rented our car (after some confusion about should happen after we left the rental desk), and went to visit a wonderful producer of the very best Parmigiano Regiano cheese.  We heard a bit about the production of Parmigiano Regiano, and then we saw hundreds of wheels of cheese, aging.  Wait till you see the pics....... (after I get home)   We heard about how the cheese is inspected to be able to be marked as Parmigiano Regiano (a very serious business, ensuring that special regional foods are what they claim to be!), and we saw cheese being cut and grated and packaged for shipping to various parts of the world.

They cut a wheel of 24-month cheese, just for us, and encouraged us to eat as much of us as we wanted....  They made us very generous presents of Parmigiano Regiano.

The lovely woman who showed us around took out out for a fabulous lunch.  We had starters, we had first courses, we had second courses, we had a raft of tiny desserts......  Details with pic, later......

Our host was charming and generous and hospitable.  We formed a fast friendship, and enjoyed pictures of her adorable puppy, and were glad to learn about her herbal interests, when she's not involved in the fine cheese world.

It was hard to part from our new friend, but we had miles to go......

Then we set out for our place for the night.  In Italy, farms can supplement their income by taking in lodgers/diners.  Our first agritourismo was south of Langharano (ignore what I said yesterday about the name), and was higher in the mountains than some clouds in a very foggy sky.

Again our hosts were lovely and hospitable and charming, and the place we stayed was likewise.  The house/hotel seemed at home in the mountains, with what seemed to me to be touches familiar to Bavaria or the Tyrol.  Beer steins, hand-decorated painted ceilings, beautiful ironed linens in the bedroom, everything made of wood......

Dinner was another spectacular meal.  It was described as simple and rustic, but there were many things to try, and all were delicious.  Details and pics coming....

We discovered that our hostess spoke French about as well as I do, so we spoke a combination of English, French, and Italian, as she and her husband explained the various dishes, and as we all talked about world politics and the problems befalling Italy at present (including WAY too much rain in their region, which is washing out roads, etc).

We were hoping for a clear day today, so we could appreciate the view from up there in the mountains, but no such luck.  We had a wonderful breakfast -- a lovely home-made pastry, yogurt, fabulous home-made apricot jam and their own honey (heated!) (on home-made bread).

We'd drunk a roasted-then-ground hot drink made from spelt the night before (good for the digestion, and caffeine free), and I had some more for breakfast.

It was hard, again, to part from more new friends.

This morning we visited a producer of excellent Prosciutto di Parma.  We learned all about how prosciutto is made, and heard about the things that distinguish the best from the not-as-good.  It was very interesting -- I learned a lot I hadn't known.  Our host was friendly and full of information.

Our place for tonight does not do dinner, so we stopped in a grocery for an apple and bread and cheese (I know, cheap grocery-store cheese, when we have Parm Reg????  But we can't bring the PR home if it's been opened.)

Then we headed for our afternoon appt with a producer of the finest balsamic vinegar.  I knew basically nothing about balsamic vinegar, so I learned a lot about its historical production and use, and about current production and use.  Producers of the very best balsamic only make a very few bottles each year.  Zingerman's buys basically their whole production of their oldest traditional balsamic (120 bottles?) .  Making balsamic is at once simple, and very time-consuming.  Everything depends on the nose and taste of the person in charge.....

The vinegar is aged in a set of barrels.  The sets are often graduated sizes (often each barrel made of a different kind of wood, as each kind of wood adds its own flavor).  The barrels of vinegar need to be cold in winter and hot in summer for the vinegar to develop.  Each year some vinegar is added to the smallest barrel from the next smallest, and so on, up the sizes, until the biggest, to which some of this year's cooked grape juice is added.  The person in charge decides how much to add....  Carefully tasting......

We saw many sets of barrels, some in a very old tower.  Parts of the tower were built in 1000-ish.  I got to open the peep-hole window in a verrrry old oak door.....  In the USA, such things would be in museums, not out where people can touch them.  I remarked on that to our host, who said that sometimes people are too close to things to see them -- to him it was just a door.............

Then we tasted balsamics.  The good ones are very very nice indeed!  The original use of balsamic vinegar was as a tonic, for health.  I would happily drink the spoonful a day that grandmothers in this area used to (still do?) recommend.

Another very interesting and wonderful tour.  Our friendly host recommended a restaurant in a town near our agritourismo location, but we are tired of being in the car and don't want to be driving on these narrow roads at night.  Too bad.......  Next time.......

Then we headed for our place for tonight.  We found it without trouble, and oh, my, wait until you see our view out the back.  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time to go eat grocery-store bread and cheese.  :-)

Buona sera!



In order to facilitate chronological traversal of these posts, here is a link to the next post.

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