We have already told you several times about the markings that distinguish the various types of Parmigiano Reggiano, an exceptional dairy product subject to strict regulations that govern its qualitative selection and the possibility of long aging.
Parmigiano is an extraordinary cheese but, as they say, you can't always hit the nail on the head! Last week we talked about Parmigiano Reggiano mezzano, a second-level category, consisting of those wheels that have minor or medium defects that do not allow them to age for a long time. Today, however, we are talking about blanched Parmigiano.
What is blanched Parmigiano Reggiano?
Once the canonical 12 months have passed in the aging warehouses, the Parmigiano Reggiano wheels are subjected to the so-called "expertisation", i.e., the evaluation by the Consortium's inspectors, who must check the wheels one by one, in order to categorize them as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice.
Blanched Parmigiano Reggiano is essentially the 3rd choice, which means those wheels that have significant defects, so they cannot be further aged and do not fall within the parameters that allow the cheese to be assigned the "Parmigiano Reggiano Dop" designation.
How to recognize blanched Parmigiano Reggiano
Blanched Parmigiano wheels are downgraded by eliminating the marks of origin through the milling of the rind, which removes any reference to the PDO. If you like high-quality Parmigiano Reggiano and want to discover all the nuances it acquires during the different aging periods, discover all our offerings, from 12 to 100 months!
