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HISTORICAL MUSEUM OF PARMIGIANO REGGIANO
and of the peasant civilization of the Val d'Enza
TOLL OF '700
via Copellini, 13, 42027 Aiola REtel:
0522 871271 - Association ' La
Barchessa
'email: -
ass.labarchessa@libero.it- museodelparmigianoreggiano@gmail.com
Made by Simone Righi with Flazio.com
Made by Simone Righi with Flazio.com
THE OLD TOLL
Rebuilding in '78 in the center of the hamlet has become the symbol
of the Museum. Perfectly functioning, it is used for
demonstration
and educational activities. To complete the educational-museum itinerary, it is possible to admire the old toll booth, still perfectly preserved and the exhibition of the wagons, which collects a collection of almost 40 pieces including gigs, carriages and finely inlaid agricultural wagons, used between the end of the 19th century and the middle of the 20th century for the work in the fields and for the social life of countryside. In the vicinity of the museum it is possible to visit two historic toll booths for the processing of cheese, one from the eighteenth century with a wood fire and a more recent one with steam.
IL CASELLO IN ACTION
Every year on May 1st you can watch, as we did, the demonstration production of a form of Parmigiano Reggiano. Truly exciting! The toll booth contains ancient tools for processing milk and others that are still in use. This place was born from the reconstruction of an eighteenth-century dairy, relocated to an area owned by the Municipality of Montecchio, in the center of the small village of Aiola. they carry out demonstrations on how a form of cheese, typical of the area, is born: Parmigiano Reggiano THE
PARMIGIANO
REGGIANO Parmigiano Reggiano
cheese is produced exclusively in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena and part of the provinces of Mantua and Bologna. production is enclosed between plains, hills and mountains located between the Po and the Rhine: here are concentrated the farms where the cows are fed with pr produced exclusively in this area. The feeding of the animals is taken care of in compliance with a strict regulation that prevents the use of ensiled fodder and fermented foods. Parmigiano Reggiano is obtained with skimmed milk from the evening milking added to the whole milk from the morning milking. The milk is poured into the typical inverted bell-shaped copper boilers, then it is enriched with natural rennet and whey: in this way, coagulation takes place. The curd, as it is called, is fragmented by the master cheesemaker into tiny granules thanks to an ancient tool called spino. After this operation a slow cooking begins which reaches 55 °C after which the caseo granules - precipitating on the bottom of the boiler form a single mass which will be extracted by the dairyman with a white cloth and subsequently inserted into a mold called fascera. Parmigiano
Reggiano is a source of calcium, therefore it is very suitable for those who practice sports.
About
600 liters of milk are needed for each cheese wheel. Each wheel is assigned a house plate with a unique and progressive number: the 'identity card à ' of Parmigiano Reggiano DOP. Carefully reread the 4 ° sheet ... the final code has 5 digits. With a special marking band the following are engraved on the shape: the month, the year of production and the serial number that distinguishes the dairy and the unmistakable dotted writing on the entire circumference. After a few days, the cheeses are immersed in a saturated solution of water and salt: it is a salting by osmosis. With this last step the production cycle of Parmigiano Reggiano is concluded and the seasoning cycle begins.