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What is Parmesan?! If you ask to an Italian you won’t get an answer, simply because “this thing” is not Italian. Parmesan is the “English-American version” for PARMIGIANO REGGIANO which is considered the king of the Italian cheeses. Probably the difficulty to pronounce the Italian words has created what I call “the monster”: parmesan!
Parmigiano Reggiano is one of the most imitated product in the world. And indeed the most important problem related to this mispronunciation is that a lot of very sneaky people have introduced into the market many cheeses named “parmesan”, pretending they were Parmigiano and of course they were not. They just used the ambiguity which the name “parmesan” granted.

The whole production of the real Parmigiano should come from a restricted area (according to the law that on 1955 defined the standard of this cheese: the provinces of Modena, Parma and Reggio Emilia and partially Bologna and Mantova). It is in fact due also to the geographical position of the production zone that the Parmigiano Reggiano is a cheese absolutely unique and impossible to imitate.
Even the name itself shows the close link with the surrounding areas: the towns of Parma and Reggio Emilia.

But fortunately it is not necessary to be an expert to recognise the real Parmigiano Reggiano. The traditional marking with the inscription in full “PARMIGIANO-REGGIANO” is impressed along the side of the whole cheese and enables the identification even on small pieces. The structure of the cheese paste is unmistakable too: granular, with the typical breaking in slivers and the particular fragrant and delicate aroma!