Twilight, Travel, and Treats

Balsamic Vinegar

Continuing on our Italian Days Food Experience led by Alessandro we left the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese factory and headed into another part of Modena.

Acetaia Villa San Donnino

We visited an Acetaia - no English translation but basically it's where they make the awesome balsamic. This is traditional balsamic vinegar from Modena that has a special certification that has to be granted every year to the makers.

these barrels have a hole at the top just covered by cheesecloth

This vinegar is aged a minimum of 12 years. The barrels are all made of different types of wood and cost about 3000 euros a set. Something very specific about the grapes and the air and bacteria mix you get in Modena makes this stuff so special. It takes 12 years before you get 1 litre of vinegar that you can sell or use. It's not a good way to earn money and is definitely a true labour of love.

Alessandro giving up lots of info - but it was hot as hell up there

This stuff has been made traditionally for centuries. They have a receipt on the wall for a balsamic vinegar purchase from 812 A.D.!

We got to try a 12 year old, a 25 year old, and a 120 year old balsamic vinegar. Just a few drops from the spoon and you the difference between them. The older ones are more syrupy and sweet.

120 year old balsamic - like drinking liquid gold

balsamic on home made vanilla ice cream - delicious! That's Mr. TC's hand and those aren't my feet.

They sell all these products of course. The 12 year old was 40 euros and the 25 year old was 75 euros. Can't remember how much the 120 year old vinegar cost because it was way beyond my price limit.

They also served us nocino - an 80 proof walnut liqueur that they make on site. This stuff is sticky, thick, and delicate. I found my new favourite drink. If I could have I would have brought bottles of this stuff back home. But alas Mr. TC didn't want to lug bottles of liqueur through Tuscany and London. If anyone knows of where to buy this in Vancouver or the Pacific Northwest I will be thrilled.

The Acetaia is in a building next to the owners house. They live in this beautiful villa that was actually passed down from the owners grandfather. I don't believe he's ever had to work and when you see this house you see that they definitely aren't making balsamic because they need the money.

entering their beautiful villa

Part of the Robert de Niro film 1900 was filmed in this mansion. They actually show you the segment of the film that was set in the building and it's surreal standing in the same room that you see on the screen.

We hopped back in the minivan for lunch.

Vineyard

Next we went to a traditional Italian vineyard (cantina) Corte d'Aibo

view of the vineyard during lunch

an organic farm. Made me think of my 4 year old who loves tractors.

I love my ham!

as if we didn't have enough cheese already

Pigs must be at least 9 months old before they are used to make this ham.

legs of pork are washed

then refrigerated to just freezing

 It was boiling hot outside so standing in near freezing temperatures of this gigantic fridge was quite a nice change. But standing in a meat locker gave me some CSI flashbacks and the heebie-jeebies.

then heavily salted and left to rest at 2 degrees celsius for 8 weeks

They are then washed and dried. Then they are painted with a thin layer of paste made from lard, flour, salt and pepper.

imagine a whole warehouse just of pork leg

They are allowed to age for over a year.

branded for approval

The boss shows us how the ham is inspected before being stamped officially Prosciutto di Modena. They use a horse bone needle to check five places. They can tell if the needle comes out not smelling right that the product is no good. We got to try this out and, well, good thing it smelled like yummy prosciutto.

quality control with a horse bone needle

Bologna

Our only goal for this part of the trip was to visit the home of Parmesan cheese, super good Balsamic vinegar, and Parma Ham. All in one day? You bet.

We took a train from Venice's Santa Lucia station to Bologna. I checked online at www.trenitalia.com and found out what time the Eurostar trains were leaving. We arrived at the train station about 90 minutes early and bought our tickets from the machines. We decided on second class tickets since we had heard the only benefit of the first class was a newspaper and drink cart.

bye bye Venice

in Venice the bus driver - boat captain at the helm

train station "panno Americano" for the Yanks

train station ice cream never looked so good

It wasn't hard finding the platform and our car. I was glad Mr. TC was there to lift our suitcases onto the luggage racks though since space was at a premium in the second class cars. The seats were perfectly comfortable for our short 90 minute ride.

our Eurostar train - no need to validate your ticket, just hop on

carrozza (train car) 7, posti corridoio (aisle seats) 24, 27

Hotel

We took a taxi to our hotel the Art Hotel Novecento.

old style hotel on the outside

modern on the outside - this is the breakfast bar during midday - free am continental

our Happy Anniversary surprise fruit basket

very modern feeling despite the country-esque look

my luggage nook

love modern showers, especially those with a bench

leopard print robes included

My dream for Bologna was to see the home of Parmesan cheese. I found a tour on Tripadvisor called Italian Days Food Experience.

For about 120 euro we got an almost full day of eating:

- 7:30am pick up from hotel in a minivan

- arrive at Parmigiano Reggiano cheese factory

- next go to visit a villa where they make special aged Balsamic Vinegar of Modena

- onwards to the Parma Ham (in this case Modena ham) factory

- lastly lunch at a typical Italian winery (cantina) and a vineyard tour

- back at hotel almost 4pm

Alessandro is the tour guide and is originally from Tuscany. He keeps things entertaining. He and his girlfriend Barbara (who didn't come on the tour since she's pregnant) were very good at answering our emails.

In the minivan with us was a girl in her 20's from Quebec, two women in their 40's from Washington DC, and a couple from Manchester on their honeymoon.

By the way the couple from Manchester told us instead of a wedding cake they had a tower of various cheeses. Sounds so yummy!!

Everyone has to wear a paper coat over their clothes, no hairnets though.

They clean the factory with whey from the milk and not harsh chemicals. The whole place smells very earthy and old milk-ish. Takes some getting used to.

True Parmigiano Reggiano can only be made in a very small region in the world and factories have to apply for the internationally recognized designation. Milk comes from the surrounding farms.

As we are looking at the map in the entrance of the factory a cart of fresh ricotta rolls by. Fresh = made less than 5 minutes ago!

The milk comes in the night before and is allowed to sit overnight and then is partially skimmed and then added to the subsequent mornings milk. Fermenting whey from the previous day is also added to the copper kettle. After some slow stirring and heating, a natural milk extract called rennet is added (man this stuff is expensive) which initiates the cheese making!

The milk separates into curd and whey and then the curd is broken up into small rice grain sized pieces. The heat is really turned on now.