Goodbye Bologna

Today we left Bologna for our next stop - Venice!

On the way we stopped at a couple of places in Modena to try some of the local cheese, prosciutto, and vinegar. The EU license production of various things to ensure the authenticity of things that have been made in a traditional way for centuries but are at risk of being replaced by mass produced non-authentic substitutes.

The first place we stopped at was a cheese factory specialising in producing parmigiana reggiano cheese. We probably call this parmesan cheese in Australia but this is so much better. The process is very strictly controlled and this factory can only make 14 wheels of cheese each weighing 50kg per day. They have to stamp each cheese, store it for at least 12 months then get in inspector out to tap the cheese wheel and listen to make sure the cheese makes the right sound before they are allowed to affix the coveted DOP stamp and sell it.

The DOP stamp means that product has been made in the traditional way and comes from the traditional location. No where else except producers around Modena can sell the traditional Modena cheese with the DOP stamp.

Next stop was a prosciutto factory higher in the hills. Once again they follow a very strict process with every ham being stamped with an identity tag and then tracked through the production process from end to end. They are inspected at various stages to ensure the process is followed and that each ham is up to the correct standard. They open the windows of the storage areas as part of the process to allow the hams to dry so they have to be a certain height to properly cure the ham. The hams are checked using a piece of bone from the ankle of a horse as this bone doesn’t have a smell and will hold the smell of the ham for a few moments to allow it to be checked.

Last stop was a vinegar factory. Once again a strict process with certain types of grapes to be used and checks along the production process. In the first year they have a set of 5 or 6 barrels of different sizes. They harvest and cook the grapes (which is different to wine production) and then fill all the barrels. The barrels are not sealed so some of the liquid in each evaporates over a year and they are stored in the attic to ensure temperature variations. After a year all barrels are checked and refilled from the next largest barrel - so the smallest gets filled from the next smallest and it in turn is refilled from the next smallest and so on. Eventually the largest barrel is refilled from the current year’s production and so on for 12 years for the standard ‘Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena’ or 24 years for the extra old version. All very interesting, have to say I didn’t know much about vinegar production but I do now! Once again the DOP stamp is attached and highly prized and they can only product a limited number of special DOP designated bottles each year.

Of course all of these places could produce more of exactly the same product but the fact it wouldn’t be DOP stamped means they would not be able to charge a premium for their products.

After our food lessons we headed up the autostrada to our destination for the next couple of nights - Venice!

We took a water taxi to our hotel, ditched the bags and started exploring. By this time it was about 7pm so we had to find somewhere for dinner which we did down one of Venice’s mass of small lanes. After a seriously good lasagna we made a trip to St Marks square. A few people around but some interesting buildings - check out the photos.Читать далее