Parmigiano Reggiano – Red and Brown Cows

Red Cows

This very special Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is produced from Reggio Red Cows, a breed native of Northern Italy. The breed’s distinctive feature is the red coat colour, called formentino, after which it is named: its ancient origins date back to the Barbarian invasions around the year 568, when the cows reached the area of Parma and Reggio Emilia from Pannonia.
It is a rustic cow used in the old days for its triple features: milk, meat and work. In the XII century the Benedictine monks started to produce the ancestor of today’s Parmigiano Reggiano cheese using these cows’ milk.
The cheese has reached the correct maturation, and immediately reveals its complexity of aromas and tastes, in a perfect, soft and pleasant balance. This cheese holds unchanged the scents of milk and the aromas of the countryside, blended together to bestow to it the straw yellow colour. A unique sweetness. It is a perfectly digestible product that can be combined with any type of fruits, and nuts and, thanks to its versatility, Parmigiano Reggiano is irreplaceable in the kitchen. Pair it with local sparkling white wines.

Brown Cow

The brown breed appears in the countryside around 1870, but it increases its presence around 1900. When Professor Bizzozzero, the founder of the itinerant Agriculture course in Parma, became aware of the conditions of agriculture throughout the province, he decided to cross-breed local cattle with bulls of Brown Swiss breed, thus combining the triple vocation: meat, milk and labour.
The milk obtained produces a Parmigiano Reggiano cheese rich in flavour yet delicate, with straw yellow colour typical of the traditional feed. The taste unleashes sensations of unbelievable full body completeness.