Why Parmesan Cheese Is So Expensive

[Music] a wheel of parmesan cheese can cost over a thousand dollars the average wheel weighs 88 pounds which means it costs over 11 dollars per pound [Music] that might not sound like a lot but it's more than double the price of your average cheddar [Music] a wheel of parmesan cheese takes at least one year to age 131 calories of milk to make and it can only be made in a small area in northern italy parmesan cheese is a big business for italy an average of 3.6 million wheels are produced each year and the industry is worth an eye popping 2.2 billion euros that's about 2.5 billion us dollars making this cheese one of italy's biggest exports every single cheese wheel is made in a restricted area in northern italy in the region of emilia romagna its italian name in fact parmigiano-reggiano means from the cities of parma and red emilia so how does this turn into this and what makes it so special we went to a dairy in parma italy to find out [Music] the very first producers of parmesan cheese were monks over a thousand years ago then like now parmesan wheels were made with only three ingredients cow milk salt and remnant there are only 329 dairies in the whole world that are certified to produce parmesan cheese and they're all based in the same area where the monks used to make it in fact it isn't even possible to make the exact same product outside of the production area and why is that turns out it's all about three good bacteria that only grow in this specific territory [Music] conservation of [Music] [Music] it takes 131 gallons of milk to make one wheel of parmesan cheese that's whole or milk there is combine freshly milked whole milk with daiyo the skim milk to make the cheese [Music] the two milks are transferred in these copper vats along with fermented whey a sort of sourdough and then rennet an enzyme which gives the milk a yogurt-like texture [Music] the cheese master will then split the milk into curds using this tool called spino [Music] a together we change in the cheese texture cooking the milk does another essential job do you remember the three good bacteria well they're not alone other bacteria bad bacteria might have joined the party cooking the milk ensures that only the good bacteria can continue the journey while the others are kicked out when cooked the curd travels all the way to the bottom of the vat where it's left to settle [Music] 45 minutes later here it is a compact muscle current weighing 220 pounds [Music] this mask is the equivalent of two cheese wheels and split carefully by workers with linen clothes [Music] each of is then transferred into modes [Music] at 8 pm the cheese is covered with this stencil which will engrave the logo parmigiano-reggiano this dots are the mark of origin used to tell customers that this is the real thing made in the same restricted area where monks used to live in the middle ages each wheel is also given an id it's this plaque made from milk protein which contains information about where it was produced and when the stencil is removed four days later and the wheels are praised into brines where they stay completely plunged for about 19 days this process helps to form the cheese rind which acts as a barrier for the juice and this is when the moderation process begins [Music] wheels remain relatively untouched for one year after that a master grader will respect them and brandon [Music] the average maturation is two years but some wheels are aged as long as 10 years to achieve a stronger nuttier taste [Music] a longer moderation period makes the price go higher that's why vecchio very old parmesan that has matured for three years will be sold on the market for an average of 13 euros that's about 15 us dollars per pound this high price means that there is now a black market of counterfeit parmesan products [Music] italy has been struggling with fake products for years in fact the problem is so big that the fakes have become an industry of their own that is estimated to be worth a hundred billion euros that's about 113 billion us dollars with parmigiano reggiano being one of the biggest brands fighting copycats while the cheese is protected in the european union under the protected designation of origin scheme it is still struggling to get the recognition it deserves in the rest of the world [Music] so how do you recognize a real parmesan cheese do you remember this dota stencil that's a solid indication that the cheese is legit if that's not visible the packaging should contain parmigiano-reggiano's official logo and they use protected designation of origin [Music] you