The siblings behind Ciaolatte dairy marry modern organic farming with traditional techniques to create delectable Parmigiano-Reggiano.
The true cathedrals of Parma have nothing to do with religion—and little to do with architecture, for that matter. Rather, they’re all about cheese: Parmigiano-Reggiano, the sharp, savory variety that takes its name from this region of Italy.
The maturation rooms where these wheels of cheese age are, in the eyes of many, the source of the area’s beauty and wealth. They’re home to a product that is so intrinsic to life in the community that it’s the solid food of choice for weaning babies. And at Ciaolatte, a dairy in the hills of Borghetto, those walls hold hundreds upon hundreds of wheels of formaggio destined for some of the best bowls of pasta in the country.
The first certified organic maker of Parmigiano-Reggiano PDO in the province of Parma—PDO stands for Protected Designation of Origin, an official European Union guarantee that the cheese is made according to regulation—Ciaolatte has been run by the Peveri family since its founding in 1957. The second generation is now in charge: Dario serves as the head cheese maker, Filippo handles the livestock, and Serena leads the commercial side of the business. The siblings’ parents trained them from a young age; Filippo began working in the fields when he was just 8. “You run on the tractor, the little tractor, and you have much fun,” he recalls. “It starts like a game. Then you go deeper every day, and you discover that you’re excited 100 percent.”
1. Milking It
Ciaolatte is home to about 700 Friesian cows, crossed with Montbéliarde and Swedish Red breeds, that graze on the pastures from the middle of March until late fall. Some 300 of the animals are lactating at any given time, each producing about 26 liters of milk per day. The PDO designation means that the product is closely linked to the land where it’s made; in this case, three lactic bacteria are unique to Parma, where they grow only on the grass, living on in the cows’ milk and allowing Parmigiano-Reggiano to remain a completely natural food, without the addition of other bacteria. “The better work you do in the farm,” Peveri says, “the better milk you get for the dairy.”
2. Whey and Rennet
Every batch begins by filling seven and a half vats with 50 percent full-fat milk from the morning’s milking and 50 percent low-fat milk from the prior evening’s milking. Each vat holds about 1,100 liters, the amount needed to create two wheels of cheese. The cheese maker adds fermented whey—a milk by-product similar to a sourdough starter—and rennet, an enzyme that induces curdling.
3. Curd Cutting
Once the rennet is added to the vats, it takes seven to 10 minutes for the milk to curdle. The cheese maker checks the texture by hand—it should be the consistency of thick yogurt—and then uses a tool called a spino to cut the curd into pieces, making sure that no big chunks remain. “Everybody has to do their role to get an optimal product,” Peveri says. “Everybody has to do their job well in order for there to be this perfect wheel of cheese at the end of it.”
4. Cheese Shaping
Next comes the cooking, which can be done only by the cheese master, who stirs the curdled milk, raises the temperature of the steam, and checks the texture of the curd. Gravity works its magic, with the grains becoming a wheel at the bottom of the vat within an hour. The cheese is pulled out and cut into two forms, each shaped using a cloth while it’s warm and malleable. In tandem, two cheese makers manipulate the mass, moving rhythmically as if dancing a pas de deux.
5. Mold Engraving
The cheese is hung in that same cloth over the vat, with the cut side facing down, and after 10 to 15 minutes, it has become rounded by its own weight. The wheels are then placed in molds, where they sit overnight, before a matrix is added between the cheese and the mold to engrave all the information about the product and its dairy of origin on the wheel. The markings contain pieces of code that the consortium inspectors can use to verify the authenticity of the food.
6. Sea Salting
Two days later, the wheels are moved into the salting room, where the third and final ingredient is added: Stainless-steel racks holding the Parmigiano-Reggiano are plunged into a brine of water plus sea salt from Sicily. “You don’t need any electricity to freeze the milk,” Peveri says. “Just with sea salt, for 18, 20 days inside these pools, the cheese rests and the sea salt preserves more than 500 liters of milk, like the Benedictine monks did 1,000 years ago.” Throughout the soaking process, the cheese gradually absorbs salt and releases water, eventually losing 4 percent of its weight.
7. Maturing the Wheel
From the salting room, the cheese is moved into the maturation room. Because mold can develop, the wheels have to be brushed and turned over every 10 days on average—more frequently for young wheels, less for older ones. The cheese ages a minimum of 12 months, but Ciaolatte gives some wheels up to 50 months. Those wheels sell for a little more than €900 (about $927) locally, a price that would be about doubled if Ciaolatte exported to the U.S., factoring in tariffs, shipping, and other considerations.
8. Final Assessments
An inspector from the Parmigiano-Reggiano Consortium must assess every wheel of cheese to determine its quality. Using a small hammer, they beat the wheel three times toward the top and 10 times at the center on both sides to make sure the sound is consistent throughout. If there are holes or tiny defects—recognizable via an echo or a change in tone—the wheel is marked with parallel lines on the rind. If the defects are large, the rind is removed completely, so that the product can’t be associated with Parmigiano-Reggiano at all. Wheels that pass muster get a hot iron stamp that officially designates them as Parmigiano-Reggiano PDO.
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