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So you're sitting in a restaurant, maybe you order
the pasta and your waiter says "Would you like
some parmesan with that?" You say "yes" and take an
egregious mound full, but guess what? That's not real
parmesan! The authentic version is called Parmigiano
Reggiano. For over a thousand years it's been required
by law that it be made only in certain parts of
Italy in a very specific way, anything else out
there that you see is just an imitation. But I've
always had a deep desire to know the secret of how
it's made, and even make a wheel myself. So I've
arrived in the Italian countryside to work with
Italy's greatest cheese maker and they promised
me if I can do what they do daily they'll let
me taste the rarest cheese on planet Earth worth
$70,000 a wheel! And no, it isn't normal Parmesan.
And that journey starts right here on the cow
farm at 4:00 in the morning at one of the most
authentic Parmigiano Reggiano factories in all of Italy
Malandrone. but I'm not doing this alone we have
chef and culinary adventurer Mr z here to help
guide me through this and translate along the
way i'm going to get down and dirty creating my
own wheel from start to finish and this is where
it comes from we're about to see these magical
cows are you ready for their others yeah it's 4
in the morning i'm standing here waiting for the
cows let's go one of them is starting already so
they're disinfecting the other making sure
there are no bacterias everything is clean
crazy i mean it's like spraying some of them
have started without being touched we've all
been there so go for it disinfect the other i'm
scared and then you have to pull them how do I do
it like like this three fingers and pull down now
you have experience in that it's fine very good
success after disinfecting it was time to put the
Can't believe I'm saying this but uh the milking
machine on Yeah excellent oh oh no okay all right
it's harder than I thought it would be how does it
feel it's kind of like a game the milking game
parmesan making is such a delicate process if
you think about it you take the milk you end up
with a whole wheel of cheese i don't think it's
that simple i think there's probably a few other
steps right well we'll find out we'll find out
soon but now it's time for the cows to head back
home so we could see where this milk was stored
all the,800 liters of milk extracted this morning
from 120 cows coming straight here 37° straight
from the others you want to go check it out this
is a very safe ladder as well yeah this ladder
looks very OSHA safe oh wow it smells amazing i I
want to drink it i might you know the cows weren't
the only animal friends lurking around this farm
there's a cat it's a good thing Kate isn't here
kate would be like "Oh we gonna take the cat home
put it on the plane." No no we have two all right
cute cat we're on our mission to make the highest
the greatest cheese and surprisingly the rarest
Parmesan Rajano in the world comes from only three
ingredients first whole milk we got from the cows
which contains the skim milk and the natural
starter known as the way and then second salt
and third renet which turns the liquid cheese
solid we'll explain that later though it's a
miracle that only three ingredients can make the
number one cheese in the world but as beautiful
as that sounds there's a battle raging in this
room every day between good and bad bacteria
if good bacteria wins we get unparalleled flavor
and consistency but if the bad bacteria wins the
entire process falls apart to a complete failure
only if done properly can we create a wheel of
the world's best cheese so I will do my best to
not [ __ ] this up while our 1,800 L of raw milk
was being collected we moved to the dairy and as
soon as I stepped inside my mind was blown our
first ingredient milk this is the leftover milk
that sat out overnight the fat rises forming a
layer of the fattiest creamiest of cream wow
insane the way it clings to your finger is
unbelievable can you smell it oh smells
unbelievable oh incredible before we make
the cheese though we need to get you undressed
and dressed up i'll just stay undressed butt
naked apron as long as your bacterias are good
yeah oh they're good they're real good if I was
going to work alongside a master cheese maker
feel like I'm going to have to look the part
joshua please meet Paulo the head cheese maker and
his son Andrea paulo's been making cheese since he
was 15 years old he's the pinnacle of this house
of the gods are you ready on to my first test i
unccorked the hole and let the milk flow we need
to separate the aged milk from the cream we have
to time this perfectly to not lose a single drop
of the liquid gold that is the cream and as soon
as it gets thicker we're going to go and close
it it's almost a little bit stressful these vats
are so big that if they don't time this right they
lose out on some of the most crucial parts of the
cheese making process so step by step you see they
slowly close the top so they're coaxing the milk
out of this basically as much as possible the fact
that it's just two people at 5:00 in the morning
father and son walking in by hand extracting this
this is like a lost art almost it is a lost art so
this now is cream it's not milk anymore i want
to put it on the ground and then what was full
of milk and cream is just cream now the next
steps are going to be super delicate you see
the that wooden thing they're going to use that to
scrape because they don't want to lose even one ml
of this liquid gold so this is the first pull of
the heavy cream so we're going to pull this yeah
and then I I'll scrape oh yeah wow have you ever
seen so much cream in your life uh in my bedroom
so Paulo put me to work scraping every last drop
of cream which seemed easy enough but so in the
time that it took me to finish my two they've done
two four six of them so triple the amount of work
that I did but uh you know it's my first time i I
did okay now what happening is that we're waiting
for the milk from the farm the ones that you just
And then we're going to have to mix 50% of that
milk with the skimmed milk and then we're going
to use a little bit of the whey a little bit of
renet and then we're going to start cooking it
all the protein of milk we're going to have to
break them to grain particles in this way we can
achieve the perfect cheese can you hear oh the
tractor yeah it's our milk let's go component 2
has arrived it is now time to add to the mix this
milk is going to go into the bath they don't want
to use pumps because as soon as you use pumps you
risk to damage the integrity of the milk so they
use gravity to transport the milk into the barrel
50% of the skimmed milk and 50% of the fat milk so
he's literally preparing the starter splitting it
evenly but as you can see there is no measuring
scale everything is made by hand made by eye so
we're measuring it at this stage waiting for it
to get to that line and now we add the starter
very heavy now we heat it up they're bringing it
out to 33 35° for the first stage they're heating
it and then he's mixing renet to then separate it
obviously all this liquid isn't going to suddenly
become cheese but what's separated from it will
be the cheese the separation part is what's called
coagulation the renet is the coagulant despite
using a thermometer the cheese maker still needs
to dip his hand in the boiling hot milk to feel
the consistency of the curds why because milk
changes every day and only he does it for every
single parmesan that comes out of this production
unbelievable so you added the renet 1 minute
of mixing 10 minutes is going to be coagulated
and then we start breaking it with the spino this
tool over here so it was time once again to watch
the master at work look at what he's doing you
have to be delicate and precise in the movement
wow and you know I had to give it a try which
was much harder than it looks oh my god you're
strong i want to be clear the viscosity of this
liquid like I I would say I'm at like 60% power
pushing down i wouldn't [ __ ] with this dude very
delicate process here once that coaculated milk is
broken up into grain-like pieces they then crank
the heat up to 55° C to begin removing some of
the water from the curd but now all the heavy
particles are going to fall down to the bottom
of the barrel gonna have to let it sleep let it
rest for at least 1 hour but in the meantime we
can have some breakfast thank god let's do that
but breakfast didn't last long because after an
hour it was time to pull out these huge blocks
we need to lift the cheese oh lift the cheese
it's going to be heavy sir you ready if this guy
is struggling there's noing way I'm going to Come
on oh my come on come on come on jesus Christ
i mean look at this oh come on come on there
she is remove remove remove remove josh josh josh
come come come oh wow oh you have to shape it yes
like that shape shape shape shape shape shape we
have to tie it up [ __ ] this up i I don't know
how here i don't want to be Yeah makes me laugh
so much so it's already kind of in the shape a
little bit it's funny i wasn't expecting it to
already be in such a round shape but the basin
of these copper vats kind of already pre-shapes it
a little bit it's pretty amazing and then they're
going to cut these in half as well don't make a
hole in the net i'm trying not to i'm so scared
these are two Parmesan wheels so it's kind of
like a perfect life cycle right beginning of
the day they do all this stuff and by the time
they're done they're left over with this sort
of like whey starter liquid that's then going to
sit overnight and they're going to use it again
the next day to use as a starter or the mother
culture if you will just so you know how deep
this is that's my full arm length if I were
in this that would be well above my head now
once the bats have been drained a bit it's time to
take the cheese out and put them into their molds
very good start shaping it pull it up pull pull
pull pull she's a little big cover and tuck it
in like a baby very good quite the process my
god and finally we have arrived to day zero the
start of our parmesano wheel somehow when you
think of age cheese the aging process doesn't
even technically begin until around day 20 on
day zero the wheels are flipped multiple times
and that evening they get branded with the iconic
dotted parmesan reaniano inscription you see here
but there's more excitement to come before it's
officially certified as genuine Parmesan Reiano
it almost smells like fresh like yogurt and this
is the ID card this tells you which cow came from
which heater who made it what date what time here
is a room where they age up to 2 days to complete
the drying process to make sure there's no water
left okay so it's got some discoloration now it's
a little bit more yellow and not so white this is
not parmyo yet because the branding will happen
here when is authorized by the consortium so
when the consortium comes when the wheel is
ready 12 months after they be like this is okay
and they will stamp it for you wow otherwise you
can't sell it as paragano wow you can literally
commit an entire year of aging before you even
get to decide if it's worthy of the powerful name
of Parmesano Reiano the flavor doesn't even begin
until this next step a giant saltwater bath to
brine in which will also help draw out some of
that moisture we're here surrounded by parmesans
that are just sitting in here for 17 days
both the seasoning of it is happening here but
also the curing and it's basically cleaning off
the exterior so it creates a crust and uh can
be aged for years after it's bath it gets a day
in the steam room to further dry out which I'm a
little confused about cuz there's steam in there
but you know what this is their stuff not mine
only then does it move to a place I have only
seen in the depths of my dreams possibly wet ones
welcome to the house of the gods oh my god wow
holy [ __ ] wow so it's aging as we go the smell
in here is unbelievable you're getting like blue
cheese toffee uh brown butter so many different
scents combined it's unbelievable so all of these
wheels you'll notice something different colors
different ages but there's one wall it's a little
different this one is significantly darker they
kept this wall to showcase you the rarest and
most expensive parmyo wall of all Romania i really
appreciate that you came all the way down here and
you understood from the cow down to the cheese the
process and I feel like we should have him taste
a little bite oh you deserve it yes i'm ready
let's do it but maybe I shouldn't be cheering
so soon you see Mr z apparently has a challenge
for me but he won't say what it is until I first
taste a 2-year age parmesano do you remember
how many months does he have to be parmesano
12 12 great can you reckon how many months this
is it's definitely more than 12 26 months which
usually is what Italians love to eat we're going
to cut a little piece to taste you can smell the
butter i smell it and I immediately am transported
back into that room in there buttery toffee like
break it and smell again oh it comes right out
wow there's some crunches do you feel the little
crunches i'm tasting it completely different than
I ever have before it smells like like a baby in
a way like milk i think you're high off the high
off the cheese right now a little bit a little
bit having said this I want to give you another
challenge if you pass the challenge I'm going to
give you a 20-year-old cheese the rarest cheese
in the world one wheel ever opened in the history
of humankind the Minnelli family they are giving
us an opportunity to try history but remember you
have to pass this test first and it's not going
to be an easy test okay come with me now if I can
complete his mystery challenge I'll finally get
to taste the rarest cheese in the world and be
able to truly say if it is the greatest cheese on
earth we are opening a [ __ ] wheel we're opening
a wheel no way really have you ever opened a
Parmesan wheel uh no 60 months of age which is
5 years 5 years very good majority of Italian
population has never tried a 5-year Parmesan
cheese despite feeling like a kid in the candy
store I was nervous even more nervous that I'm
doing it in front of two legends you have to
find the perfect half otherwise this will in
the bin okay good luck oh [ __ ] hell now it's
time for me to cut a 5yearaged Parmesano wheel
and even with all these specialized tools this
was hard so step one you cut a straight line
around the entire length of the wheel with a sharp
hookshaped knife it looks easier than it is yeah
it's very hard step two using these specialized
stabby knives you're going to jab straight into
that line now you're going to hear Mr z yell
"Oh," or wiggle oil a little bit oil i'm going
to find you O Sheila and then eventually something
happens and by eventually I mean this process took
me 25 minutes which is probably longer than it
should have taken anybody how long does it take
you to open one 2 minutes but after all that hard
work yeah oh sh I finally passed the test yes oh
and now try straight from the wheel beautiful
look at this oh the smell smell how completely
different this completely different there's
another cheese there's still a distant memory
of the room but it's a little farther away and
now level two the 5-year aged Parmesano one step
closer to the 20-year wo joshua it's too close
holy [ __ ] 25 minutes what do you think beyond
worth it i didn't think that Parmesano could
taste like this you can taste every little note
the toffee the sweetness it's more sweet
i thought it would be less sweet now the
umami is really present you're still getting
the flavor and the scent from the room but
it's changed in a big way unbelievable so rich and
nutty too this is the greatest parmesano I've ever
tasted in my entire life by far it's about to get
better that's impossible the gentleman over here
thought that this was not enough for award for
the effort they wanted to bless us as you know
with the most exclusive hardest to get we get to
try the 20 years old Parmyo Reano from Malandron
we're looking at $70,000 but it's not about the
cost it's about the time the history the passion
the love wow look at this it's like a a contraband
people in this region pray for this oh my god the
sweetness you can smell now too before it's not so
much but now you can really smell it it's like the
Holy Sacrament the texture is completely different
than what I expected so I've had cheeses from all
over the world i've cooked with three Michelin
starred chefs i've tried the best of the best
but this by far is the rarest most expensive most
tailored cheese I think in human existence cheers
holy i had a very small bite oh my god oh my
god every single part of your mouth speaking
to you now the floral notes the fruit notes
are so much like unbelievable it's much drier
texture- wise less creamy but more of like a
chew like a nice like firm chew the flavor is
so explosive so floral you're getting that
sweetness and the sweetness is so much more
powerful i'm thinking about the whole journey
that we've gone through waking up at 2 in the
morning going and milking the cows washing the
bins getting the cream out cooking the milk
separating it i'm physically and emotionally
exhausted and even then the work is not done
the work doesn't stop there it continues in its
slumber in this beautiful church of cheese to
age for 12 months right which already it becomes
an incredible product this by far is a perfect
example of what I'm about to say which is does
time make a difference and it absolutely does
it's something that we've forgotten about in
today's culture this is not only a testament
of time but this is the greatest cheese
on planet Earth and now come with us so
you remember that you cooked in the pot number
five yes these are the two number five cheeses
you'll sign them oh really the signature will
stay forever wow in 12 months we'll see these
wheels just keep watching every single day
for the next 12 months thank you so much
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