In his New York Times bestseller, Real Food Fake Food, award-winning food and travel writer Larry Olmsted exposes the unregulated food industry in the United States and how fake foods impact unsuspecting Americans’ health and taste experience. It's not surprising Olmsted features a chunk of Parmigiano Reggiano on the book cover, and "Real Food, Perfected: A Day in the Life of Parma" is the first chapter. "Most 'Parmesan' cheese is a blatant counterfeiting of Parma's product, best exemplified by the ubiquitous Kraft grated version that comes in green cardboard tubes and tastes like what you would get if you ground up green cardboard tubes," argues Olmsted. He points out that Americans often mistakenly buy other hard cheeses believing they are getting the authentic hand-made product from Italy.
In fact, Parmigiano Reggiano is in a class of its own, boasting the prestigious PDO designation (Protected Designation of Origin) from the European Union, a legal guarantee that the cheese was made by trained artisans in the area of origin using only local ingredients – and must conform to high quality and rigorous processing standards that are strictly monitored and tested.
Made with just three simple ingredients: milk, salt, and rennet (a natural enzyme produced from a calf's intestine), the labor-intensive Parmigiano Reggiano production process hasn't changed in almost 1,000 years and must commence, according to Italian law, within two hours of milking. The cows eat a strictly local diet unaltered for centuries. Their pastures are free of chemical fertilizers, new plantings are prohibited, and all hormones, supplements, and antibiotics are strictly banned. Olmsted shares in his book that cows needing antibiotics cannot continue contributing milk to the process until their systems are drug-free.
The culmination of these ironclad standards is an exquisite granular textured cheese with a distinct rich flavor and aroma – an accurate representation of the Emilia-Romagna region or "terroir" where it's made. For all its decadence, Parmigiano Reggiano is one of the healthiest foods you can eat. It is naturally lactose-free, easy to digest, loaded with protein and vitamins, and has zero carbohydrates or sugar. Whenever you buy any of its cheap imitators, you are depriving yourself of the valuable nutritional benefits offered by the real Parmigiano Reggiano.
Investing in quality ingredients like Parmigiano Reggiano for your kitchen is well worth the price. Delicious, healthy, and elevating the flavor of any dish it meets are valuable dividends delivered by this Italian culinary masterpiece. What's more, the artisans who labor daily to bring this cheese to market directly benefit from every sale and are cheated out of income each time an imitation is sold.
When in doubt, these tips will assure you're buying authentic Parmigiano Reggiano. "Made in Italy" is a must, and the D.O.P. acronym signifying PDO status proves its legitimacy. Critical, too, are the presence of the pin dots featured on the rind. These dots on an uncut cheese wheel spell out the cheese’s full name: Parmigiano Reggiano – and are easy to spot, even on most smaller pieces.