The story of the Parmigiano Reggiano Vacche Rosse (or Red Cows Parmigiano Reggiano) is a beautiful story, a family story: a love story. It was December 2014, by the fireplace I was talking to my brother about qui: my project about sharing the knowledge of Italian regional culinary culture, its little secrets and great traditions. And my brother replied: “Grazia, you absolutely should make your customers know the Parmigiano Reggiano Vacche Rosse!”
The Parmigiano Reggiano Vacche Rosse was the first product that qui featured in Brussels. The first, small but also important success: 73 kilos of cheese which were sold by a society established by a woman who, in her forty, wanted to breathe life into an idea she had been saving in her heart for years. Therefore, the Parmigiano Reggiano Vacche Rosse became a qui symbol. And I smile when my customers stop me and say: “Grazia! Do you still have your parmigiano cheese? I’d like to come and buy some!” I always answer them: “But it’s not my parmigiano cheese! It’s the Parmigiano Reggiano of the Vacche Rosse Consortium!”
Because this kind of cheese is regulated by the strict guideline of the Safeguarding Consortium for the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, which is added to the regulation of the Parmigiano Reggiano. In fact, there are some differences between them. First of all, only the milk of Vacche Rosse bred in Reggio Emilia region is used, an area which is regulated by this guideline: only 3000 red cows are living there, and they are protected by this Regulation.
Besides, the most interesting thing is the fact that in the Parmigiano Reggiano Vacche Rosse there is no milk sugar, because it can be sold only after 24 months of aging. It means that its production doesn’t involve any lactose-free product, instead it’s the 24 months aging-effect: thanks to it and to a chemical process, this cheese becomes lactose-free. This is a very important thing: we are able to offer a real high-quality product even to those people who love Parmigiano Reggiano but can’t eat it because they’re milk intolerant.
Sharing this great fact is also part of my dream: the great difference we can appreciate among the kinds of cheese in Italy: actually, between the Grana Padano and the Parmigiano Reggiano. They are two different kinds of cheese, with a different production and it’s important that all of us, even Italian people, learn how to recognize them.
Then, within the Parmigiano Reggiano family we find a product that is even more valuable: the Parmigiano Reggiano Vacche Rosse, sold by qui in Brussels, Belgium and Europe.
This post is also available in: FR
