Ever heard of Black Parmigiano?

Neither had I. It may not be available over here. It may not be widely available even in Italy. But it exists. I saw it...

They make it at the caseificio I visited in Santa Lucia, Italy, along with regular Parmigiano-Reggiano.

A wheel of the cheese will age for years, getting progressively harder and drier but more concentrated in flavor. At the caseificio, wheels are aged a minimum of two years. Many are aged longer than that, but a small number are set aside to become Black Parmigiano-Reggiano.

The transformation is almost instantaneous and entirely skin deep. The wheels are coated with a hard black waxy substance that retards the aging process by making the surface of the wheel almost impermeable.

For those who like their parm (pardon the slang) young, black is the ultimate guarantor. Here is the key fact:

Black is created after just 14 months of aging. The caseificio continues to age it for, I think, another year, but its internal clock has been slowed down.

Now, if you've read this far, you are a special person of great patience and discernment and you deserve my deepest thanks.

And as a reward for you rare birds, I'll close this extended Plain Sight visit to the caseificio with one more anecdote.

There are many makers within the official Parmigiano-Reggiano district. They range from the valley to high in the mountains and several altitudes in between. The caseificio I visited is about midway up the mountain. They pride themselves on the fact that the aging room is neither heated nor air conditioned. The temperature and humidity varies with the seasons, but in a way that, in their opinion, produces the best Parmigiano-Reggiano, naturally.

But down in the valley, they conspiratorially point out, the caseifici (if that is the correct plural) have to cool the storage rooms in summer. And high in the mountain, they have to heat the rooms in winter.

And here's the kicker, the emblem of hyper connoisseurship: they say the cognoscenti can tell the difference.

Couple this with the fact that the caseificio is identified by a unique stamp on each wheel (you have to know the code) and you have a culinary parlor game of the highest order.

Tags: photography