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Travel | Italian Food
Specialty foods : Prosciutto di Parma
| Parmigiano Reggiano
 Emilia Romagna: The Food
www.emiliaromagnaturismo-photo.net
'Enjoy your meal'! Why? Go into any
restaurant of Emilia-Romagna and you will understand. Or, if you cannot
(yet) get there, try at home some of the recipes listed, you will find
the right ingredients that come right from the producers in Emila Romagna.
This is an eminently
gastronomical region, whose pork-butchers' meat is the most famous in Italy:
Bologna salami and mortadella, Modena zamponi (pigs'
trotters), Parma prosciutto (ham). Pastas are varied and tasty when
served a la bolognese - that is, with meat-gravy and tomato sauce,
Parmesan cheese (parmigiano), hard and pale yellow, is strong and
delicate in flavor.
Emilia produces Lambrusco, a fruity, sparkling red wine, and white
Albano.
Specialty Foods of Emilia-Romagna
It is difficult to imagine an antipasti plate without
prosciutto di Parma,
the delightful ham named for one of the region’s
culinary capitals. Made from carefully raised local pigs,
prosciutto di Parma
is simplicity personified: salted, cured with air descended from
the Apennine mountains, then aged in special underground caves and closely
tended to by Parma’s salumieri. This meat has a pure, unadulterated
flavor that is an abiding passion for many. Its silky consistency and rich,
clean taste can be enjoyed draped over a plate in thin, ribbon-like slices;
wrapped around crunchy, delicate grissini (bread sticks); or tossed
with pasta, cream, herbs, and vegetables.
 The production of nutty, savory
Parmigiano
Reggiano cheese is limited to the Emilia-Romagna region to
ensure authenticity. It takes about eight quarts of milk to make one pound
of this delicacy, the so-called ‘king of cheeses.' Aged for a minimum of 12
months and up to 24 months, Parmigiano Reggiano is made according
to the age-old traditions passed down from generation to generation. The
cheese is delicious alone, in vegetable-laden soups and salads and in many
pasta dishes, some of which claim a literary pedigree. In the Decameron,
Boccaccio speaks of “…mountains of grated Parmigiano, on which
people did nothing else but prepare maccheroni and ravioli.
The piadina, also known as
piada or “piè,” came into being as peasant bread, yet today it
is the queen of snacks on the Romagna Riviera. For the many tourists who
have stopped in at least once at the colorful kiosks lining the Adriatic
coast between Rimini, Riccione and Gabicce, the flavor will always bring to
mind sun, sea and holiday memories. This unleavened flatbread is best eaten
piping hot; filled with greens, pan-fried vegetables, cheese or ham, and
cured meats of all kinds; then folded in two, cut into four, or rolled up.
One variation, the crescione, is filled to bursting with sausages
and vegetables sautéed with garlic and oil, then folded in two. This
gastronomic delight has gone on to conquer all of Italy with endless street
stands now preparing them, and today piadina can even be found in
New York.
Lambrusco vines - Photo (c)
Giancarlo Lucerni
 Aceto balsamico, or balsamic
vinegar, is one of the cornerstones of Italian gastronomy, produced
exclusively in the province of Modena according to the same time-honored
method vinegar-makers have used for centuries. Locally-grown grapes are the
preferred raw material, mainly the Lambrusco and Trebbiano varieties, from
which is obtained the cooked grape must that is matured in special casks. A
good balsamic vinegar is at least 12 years old, but, like the finest of
wines, it can be aged for as long as half a century.
Just a few drops are
all that is required to turn an “ordinary” dish into a work of culinary art,
from beef fillet to a chunk of Parmigiano Reggiano to even
strawberries and ice cream. Although balsamic vinegar is now sold across the
United States, often what is available is a factory-produced product. True
artisan-made balsamic vinegar is an incomparable taste experience. Look for
the word “traditional” on the label, and let flavor be your guide.
Chestnuts
For many centuries, the numerous chestnut forests found in the zones up to
700-800 meters elevation were one of the most important nutritional
resources in the Apennines. Still today, high quality chestnuts are produced
in "natural" organic cultivations, which use no pesticides or chemical fertilizers.
In addition to raw consumption, chestnuts are still processed into flour
after being dried on traditional racks or in modern drying facilities.
Peeled using a special machine for chestnut "threshing", they are then
ground in water-powered mills. The flour obtained, which has a high
nutritional and energy value, is used in cooking for soups, bread, desserts,
and in particular the well-known delicate ciacci (a traditional
mountain sweet).
For a number of years, the Modena East Apennine Mountain
Community has worked to recover and promote chestnut cultivation. The
activity carried out thus far has placed this zone in the forefront at the
national level in the sector of chestnut cultivation. Both the chestnuts and marrons, as well as the products obtained from their processing, are
identified by a special provincial mark of origin.
(c) 1997-2008 E. Massetti
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