Parmigiano Reggiano: The King of Cheeses

Do you like a little parmesan cheese on your pasta? Yes, it's true that the stuff from the plastic green container from the supermarket is pretty good, but it's nothing compared to Parmigiano Reggiano, the artisanal product of the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. This is a DOP product just like aceto balsamico tradizionale di Modena, and it is absolutely exquisite. Today it is made just the way that the Benedictine and Cistercian monks made it hundreds of years ago. Let's talk about the history of this process and product now!

Script by Patrizia Farina, Professor of Italian at Western Connecticut State University and Purchase College.

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[schneeraizor]

i would like to express my admiration for prof dave for the effort to sounds like italians when he said the cheese names and anything related to it.

[Wolf..]

Nice... Well, i'm from Parma, so... When i was a child my grandma used to give us parmigiano as a snack or appetizer. Sometimes just a piece of parmigiano crust roasted directly on fire. You won't believe how good that is. Saluti dall'Italia.

[Mesarim]

My compliments to your pronunciation of the Italian words! I'm duly impressed!

[Nivola]

Being of Italian origin, I always appreciate presentation on good Italian food and Parmigiano Reggiano surely deserve to be recognised properly, to avoid confusion with lower quality products. One added info, according to the Italian version of Wikipedia, the milk is now mostly produced by Frisona race cows (the classic white with black patches), because it produces almost double the milk of the original Reggiana rossa, the one you showed in the video. Like mozzarella, originally made with buffalo milk, even Parmigiano had to yield a bit of quality, to satisfy more demand. In mho, mozzarella lost a lot more quality in the transition from buffalo to cows milk, than Parmigiano Reggiano made with Frisona instead of Reggiana rossa.

[biblicallyaccuratecockroach]

I cannot describe how hungry this video made me 🤤🤤🤤 Parmigiano Reggiano is my favourite cheese of all time, and we always have a chunk to grate fresh on pasta. I remember once in an event I went to, one of the sponsor booths brought a big ass wheel of PR, it must have been half a meter across or more, carving chunks out to give out to people in plastic cups as publicity. I took so many cups with me 🤤🤤🤤 and I would have taken more if I had more time but alas, lunch hour came to an end.

[rafakordaczek]

I never expected to see something like this on your channel.

[peterwhitehead]

I found a few years ago I was lactose intolerant and since this is ( especially at longer maturing) lactose free I never had to change my favorite cheese :)

[djerickson]

Never have I even remotely thought that I'd watch a video on an obscure cheese made by Chemistry Jesus himself, yet here I am.

[smellafella]

I had no idea the history of parmigiano reggiano was rich enough to be covered with such depth
Great video!

[DanieleZilli]

As an Italian, I can tell you that your Italian pronunciation is impressive! And as usual, your content is just as good! Thanks Professor Dave!

[proximacentauri]

I really appreciate your effort to make the pronunciation as accurate as possible, you did a very good job

[tasoft]

YES food! You always deliver Professor Dave

[bugseater]

love this channel it goes from dunking on matt walsh to Cheese Facts. you are amazing

[Kenshin]

I love the food videos. I actually used his video about Olive Oil to find the best tasting Olive Oil for cooking.

[petekrumb]

Wow, I’m a waiter and sometimes people ask what parmigiano reggiano is, and I always just say Parmesan. Now I have some fun facts!

[trep]

Now you did it Prof Dave! Now I need to commit a larger portion of my grocery budget to buy Parmigiana cheese. Fortunately there are several Italian grocers in my area the have a nice selection of the real stuff. What a treat, thanks for the lesson on the finer things in life.

[kmac]

If there is one thing I can respect it is the making of fine cheese. Terrific video, as always.

[undine]

As a witch, my cheese making processes involve a lot of magical operations and assistance from various sprites and fae. Sometimes I trade wedges of cheese with the dryads and the elves to obtain wonderful spices and fungi that can’t be found in our realm for the next batches of cheese, as well as magical ingredients for incense and potions. But even with all of that, I can’t get something that tastes as good as Parmigiano Reggiano. Even alchemically duplicated Parmigiano Reggiano just doesn’t taste the same.

[amandameisner]

I am eating pasta with this on it right now and saw this video pop up 👀 YouTube is watching me lol. I didn't know the process was this extensive!

[GeneralFatman]

This channel really does have everything and I love it.