It takes a year to age a wheel of fine parmesan cheese. And about 4 minutes, of good hard work, to break it open. Above, cheese expert Carlo Guffanti walks us through the process. The first incision comes at the 3 minute mark. Various knives come into play. Until we reach the seven minute mark, when the wheel of cheese finally breaks open. All the while, Guffanti talks about the cheese as if it’s a living, breathing person with volition and feelings. Maybe that’s what happens when you spend your life making fine cheeses. Or, maybe he’s just translating Italian expressions directly into English. Either way, it’s endearing.
Note: According to The Cheese Channel, which produced this video, what we’re actually seeing is “a wheel of Trentingrana – a parmesan-style cheese that’s from Trentino. The quality of Trentingrana is tightly controlled by appellation law, which states that it can only be made with raw milk from cows grazing on pastures or hay (silage is banned).” View more of The Cheese Channel’s videos here.
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They should have let him speak Italian and later add subtitles or dub it.