Washington – In Italy, it takes at least a year to cure Parmigiano Reggiano, the original Parmesan cheese.
The U.S. standard is 10 months, but Kraft Foods, seller of the green shaker can that brought Parmesan to the masses, says it can speed the process and wants a six-month standard.
The idea grates on the Italians and on smaller U.S. companies.
Cheese cured in six months “is not Parmesan,” said Paul Bauer of Wisconsin’s Antigo Cheese Co.
The ingredients for Parmigiano Reggiano are simple – unpasteurized raw milk, salt and rennet, an enzyme that curdles the milk. But the process is painstaking. The cheese is created in carefully heated copper cauldrons. It rests in molds and then soaks in brine for several days. Finally, it spends at least a year, often two, sitting on a shelf, where it’s continually turned and brushed.
