Peggy Markel's Culinary Adventures - Cooking Vacations in Italy, Spain, Morocco, India
Slow Travel Since 1992 – Connecting Cuisine, Culture and Lifestyle
Up before dawn to witness the birthing of twin parmigiano reggiano babies. This organic producer keeps it close. His hay, his cows, his milk, his product.
#poggiocastro @gowithpeggy #roundhaybales #pavullo #emigliaromagna #zingermans #october2016
From Instagram
This is just one of the things that I love about Sicily. You drive down a rural road and your heart stops. It’s not only that traditions are carrying on with the young, and you can have a conversation, it’s that the sound of the bells is symphonic and the whole scene is bucolic and relaxing.
We had just been to Filipo’s farm with @fabrizialanza to witness the making of pecorino from start to finish and taste super soft creamy ricotta, still warm. The fields are full of wild flowers, the air is still cool and the sky blue. What more? #swoon @gowithpeggy #sicily #freshricotta #rurallife #pecorino
From Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BFszJpin_8I/
To be an affineur, is to be an expert on aging. Of cheese.
In St. Remy de Provence, cheese makers bring their cheeses to this shop, where the resident affineur will take their product and put it in the ripening cellar. An affineur is sometimes described as the “foster parent of the cheese,” overseeing its development with a keen sense for when its flavors will peak
Even better, when customers arrive at the Cave d’Affinage, or “The Ripening Cave,” they can place full trust in the affineur to find a cheese that will be ripe for serving at exactly the moment it is needed—whether that very afternoon, or three days away.
And if it’s lucky, the cheese will end up on a table, in a garden, comme cette desous.
For more information and a good discussion write Robert Reynolds at www.chefstudio.com. A Phd in the science of finer nuances of flavor.
I visited my first ‘cave d’ affinage’ when visiting Robert in Noir, in the Charente back in 1994. Who knew back then, that every product has an expert. A taster.
