Parma and Prosciutto

I've been a bit spotty lately with my blog posting, but honestly when I don't have anything to say I'd rather just not post instead of forcing myself to write something. So if anyone was wondering that's why I haven't been posting as much.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going on one of our Outdoor Rec trips to Parma for a parmesan and prosciutto tasting. I love trips and I love Italian food, so I thought this would be the perfect trip for me.

I was not disappointed!

To start the day we went to the factory where they processed the prosciutto. We were shown the various stages that the prosciutto had to go through before it was sold to the public. The factory that went to was one of the smaller prosciutto factories, but you'd never known it from all the legs of ham. I've never seen so many in my life.

Our tour guide explaining how the stick (made from the legbone of a horse) is entered into various points of the prosciutto to test that it is good.

Afterwards we were treated to a delicious spread of various kinds of meats, cheese and wine. I do love Italian tastings!

Next we were off to Parma for a little bit of free time for lunch and a quick tour of the city. I had some tortelli with fresh herbs for lunch (no pictures, but they were quite tasty) and the tour of Parma, although short was interesting.

Our last stop was the factory that made Parmesan. Unfortunately they only make the cheese very early in the morning, so we didn't get to see that, but we did get to see one worker turning the wheels of cheese and changing the cheesecloth.

These are the cheese wheels taking a bath in salt water to release the fat from the cheese.

Have you ever seen so much cheese in your life?

The finished product with the authentic stamp letting you know it was made in the region.

I ended the day with two packages of salami and a wedge of 24 month aged Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, all for 15 euro. I'd say it was another successful day in Italy.