A history dating back to 1910 that of Latteria Barchessone, when it was once based at Corte Barchessone (Brugneto) from which it took its name.
Initially, milk and cheese were processed by heating the boilers with wood-fired fires, producing 2-3 wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano daily.
In 1977 the Dairy moved to new premises, where it still resides today, and thanks to new forces and more tools, milk production increased: an average of 10 wheels were produced daily thanks to the milk of the 30 members. The steps were all carried out strictly by hand, from turning to pinning. In the 1990s the facility expanded, a larger warehouse was built, boilers and more work rooms were added.
Today the dairy has 13 members who supply milk twice a day, and thanks to the passion and commitment of the employees, about 55 wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano are produced daily.
The Parmigiano Reggiano
The particularities of Parmigiano Reggiano processing at Latteria Barchessone traverses a long journey through nine centuries of history, in a fertile countryside stretching from the Apennines to the Po River, in farms and dairies where the passion for things made with care is preserved, in aging warehouses where an extraordinary cheese slowly matures, surprising in aroma and taste.
The milk is that which is formed, precisely, by the members 2 times a day, who take care of the feeding of the animals by preventing the use of silage fodder and fermented foods. Constant controls maintain high quality and this is what allows us to produce a completely natural Parmigiano Reggiano, absolutely free of additives or preservatives.
The processing
Every day, the milk from the evening milking is left to rest until morning in large tanks, in which the fat part, destined for butter production, spontaneously emerges.
Together with the whole milk from the morning milking, the skimmed milk from the evening milking is added, it is then poured into the boilers, with the addition of rennet, rich in natural milk enzymes.
The resulting curd is fragmented into tiny granules using an ancient tool called a spino. This is followed by cooking, which reaches 55 degrees centigrade, at the end of which the caseous granules precipitate to the bottom of the boiler, forming a single mass. After about fifty minutes, the caseous mass is extracted, with skillful hand movements.
Cut into two parts and wrapped in the typical cloth, the cheese is placed in a fascera that will give it its final shape; Each form is marked with a unique and progressive number that will accompany it just like an identity card.
After a few hours, a special branding band engraves on the cheese wheel the month and year of production, the serial number that distinguishes the dairy, and the unmistakable dotted lettering all around the circumference of the wheels, which a few days later are immersed in a saturated solution of water and salt.
Left to rest on wooden boards, the outside of the cheese dries, forming a natural rind, without treatment. In fact, the minimum aging period is twelve months, and it is only at that point that it will be possible to say whether each individual wheel will be able to retain the name originally imprinted on it.
During aging, Parmigiano Reggiano acquires its typical grainy texture, becomes crumbly and soluble.
Delicious, easily digestible, extremely nutritionally rich, this is the King of the Table produced by the Barchessone Dairy
