Hello all,
We will be in the Modena\Parma area for a few days during the second week of December and need some recommendations please. We would like to visit a Parmesan dairy and hopefully do a tour and get some top level cheese (the real good stuff). We would love to also visit a ham producer that is as authentic as possible. We have a car and would like to do these visits\tours by ourselves rather than joining a tour group.
Any help would be super helpful!!
Thanks so much @joe32F any favorites for each?
I understand you don't want a tour, but if you're open to something with a small group this is well worth considering. One of our favorite experiences of our month-long trip to Italy in August.
Pretty much the only guided tour we've ever been on of our own free will was with a guide from Tours by Locals https://www.toursbylocals.com/ when we were staying in Parma and didn't have a car. He was very good and unobtrusive, and took us to a cheese factory, a balsamic vinegar place, and a winery, then to a nice osteria for lunch. After lunch, since I'm a retired teacher, he kindly took us to the Reggio Emilia school in, yes, Reggio Emilia, even though that wasn't part of the original plan. He would have taken us to a dried meat producer, but I thought I would not enjoy that. Kind of a squeamish semi-vegetarian.
We were there in December and stayed for several nights in Portico di Romagna in the hills --- if you can't stay there at least visit the town (preferably not on a weekend) to see the hundreds of creche scenes that the townspeople and local groups display all over the town. You will not have seen any like them before --- wildly creative, often funny, and constructed from all sorts of unlikely materials (such as old electronics parts and broken flower pots).
We also enjoyed touring the caste of Torrechiara near Parma.
If she is still doing tours I highly recommend Laura .... http://www.foodtours.it/laura/. You will get the real stuff (cheese) in the area. There are many small producers some offer tours. Can't get any more authentic than a family run operation. We had a private tour (just my husband and I) and it was one of the best experiences. Modena I suggest you try the balsamic vinegar. The best I've ever had was made by a friend. I am lucky to live half the year in Emilia Romagna and you don't get more authentic than the towns here.
Visit the Castle of Torrechiara and the town of Langhirano an easy drive from Parma. The castle is wonderful and the area is a center for salumifici including this one: http://www.contiprosciutti.it/en/tours/
Thank you all so much! Great information!!
Even if you are driving by yourself a guide could be hired to lead you around and usually is a way to have more details about the area. I can recommend these my colleagues in Parma: https://exploraemilia.com/guide-parma-reggioemilia-piacenza/
As for tasting different producers of Parmigiano, to taste the differences, a grocery (or cheese monger) is a better place, otherwise you must travel a lot o find the different producers. Remember that the production process is always the same in each dairy for Parmigiano: the difference is made by what the cows eat and the kind of cow. Of course even the aging affects the final taste, but is a "vertical" tasting who give you the chance to feel it.
I now mainly dairies where I lead groups, so not the ones who make internal tours in English. Maybe Ciao Latte, east of Parma. A special ones could be Caseificio Rosola, near Zocca (Modena province), but rather far from Parma (1.5 hours driving, not less).
A general tip: go in the morning to watch the whole process, the Parmigiano must be produced in the morning. If you have a guide and plenty of time you can even arrive early to watch the curdling moment.
For prosciutto I can suggest Conti and La Rosa dell'Angelo. Probably in the second one they do better internal tours in English. Can be done even the tour of the black pig breeding.
Prosciutto di Parma is made only in few villages in the hillside, so the 90% of producers are in Langhirano and neighborhood.
All prosciutto and Parmigiano-Reggiano makers are real producers, so are production facilities, not museums or touristic places. So don't be worried to find an authentic place, but you could be worried for odors (the pig flesh, or the manure...).
A special cheese that can be found on our region is the "pit cheese" (Formaggio di Fossa), but is produced in Romagna, near Sogliano. Can be found in some good cheese shops all around the Region.
For Traditional Balsamic of Modena there are several producers (called "acetaia") who do tours even in English: San Donnino, Leonardi, Giusti for example. But even the acetaia of the Modena's Townhall can be visited (inside the tower of the Townhall, obviously).
For a tasting I can suggest the shop of the Consorteria in Piazza Mazzini (in Modena), because they represent a wide group of acetaie, so is a place where you can taste different ones (horizontal tasting).
