Day 1, Part 2: Aromas
After landing in Milan we met our tour guide Maria and our bus driver Ivano. On our long bus ride to Parma many of us fell asleep, despite trying to stay awake to avoid jet lag. Our first destination was the parmesan cheese factory. Though the factory itself was pretty smelly, the area was beautiful! We also got to taste cheese aged for three different amounts of time: 12 months, 24 months, and 36 months. After cheese tasting we took a short ride through the mountains to a prosciutto factory. We had to wear hair nets and special gowns because of sanitary regulations.
When we walked into the factory we were greeted by the smell of the curing hams. Our tour guide said the ingredients for prosciutto are “salt, time, and passion.” After the tour of the factory we got to try a sample. We then took another bus ride to Modena to learn about balsamic vinegar. We learned about the different kinds of balsamic vinegar: PDO and PGI. PDO stands for Protected Designation of Origin and PGI is Protected Geographical Indication. PDO is the traditional kind of vinegar, and it has to be fermented and authenticated to be declared PDO vinegar, whereas the PGI vinegar doesn’t need to be aged as long; both are certified to have been made in Italy. We also learned that authentic, traditional balsamic vinegar can only be made in Modena. After our presentation, we got to taste a couple different kinds of vinegar, and some of us bought some to take home. We then finished off the journey to Florence, and then we walked to get dinner. After dinner we checked into the hotel and went to bed.