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Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

foodandwine.com

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Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#291

Post by dagw »

donthellbanme wrote: post #268
matthewmcg wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can get good canned tomatoes (I like the Flora brand San Marzano D.O.P, about $5.50 for a 28oz can), this is a great 20 minute recipe that will usually beat any pre-made sauce: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015987-classic-marinara...

Fresh is always better, even if you don't have acces to San Marazano tomatoes. This tomato sauce recipe goes out the the poor guys here. I imagine we are the minority here? 1. Tomatoes--any kind. You will buy them initially to use them for sandwiches, and maybe a salad, but will be left over with a bowl of soft tomatoes at tge end of the week. The rest left older will start to rot, so why not make tomato sauce. 2. In…

Fresh is always better, even if you don't have acces to San Marazano tomatoes.

Depends very much on where you live. Most tomatoes I can buy make far worse sauce than canned tomatoes unless I am willing to spend a lot of money. And if I'm spending the sort of money I have to spend to get good fresh tomatoes I'm not 'wasting' them in a sauce. Hell even making sauce with the cheapest tomatoes in the store will no doubt cost me at least twice as much as using halfway decent canned tomatoes for a worse result.

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#292

Post by kmlx »

pacbard wrote: post #15

I'm curious to know which cheesemakers are using these chips. If you look at a wheel of Parmigiano (a whole one), you will see a number stamped on it. That's the cheesemaker's matriculation number in the consortium. There are 313 active ones right now. Some of them are very big (especially the ones in the lowlands) and some of them are very small (mostly the ones up in the hills). The small cheesemakers have trouble…

what i want to know is how can such a small community have so much clout in european politics that they managed to create the “Geographical Indication” so that no one else can create their own parmigiano cheese. do they fear competition that much? does their product really offer nothing extra compared to a parmigiano produced anywhere else?

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#293

Post by wink »

Mariehane wrote: post #281
bleuarff wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From TFA: "The innovation combines food-safe Casein labels with the p-Chip micro transponder — a blockchain crypto-anchor that creates a digital 'twin' for physical items. This scannable new food tag is smaller than a grain of salt and highly durable, delivering next-generation visibility and traceability." I, for one, had never heard the term "blockchain crypto-anchor" before.

Wow, they also make sure to throw in “digital twin” even if that makes no sense in this context.

That depends... what if you accept the most basic digital twin being a database entry with the unique id? :P

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#294

Post by HelloNurse »

kmlx wrote: post #292
pacbard wrote: post #15

I'm curious to know which cheesemakers are using these chips. If you look at a wheel of Parmigiano (a whole one), you will see a number stamped on it. That's the cheesemaker's matriculation number in the consortium. There are 313 active ones right now. Some of them are very big (especially the ones in the lowlands) and some of them are very small (mostly the ones up in the hills). The small cheesemakers have trouble…

what i want to know is how can such a small community have so much clout in european politics that they managed to create the “Geographical Indication” so that no one else can create their own parmigiano cheese. do they fear competition that much? does their product really offer nothing extra compared to a parmigiano produced anywhere else?

The different formal varieties of geographical indications and restricted names are commonly adopted for cheese, wine, and many other quality foods. It only takes a critical mass of motivated makers and a reasonable traditional product, not "clout in European politics"; Parmigiano-Reggiano is merely popular, easy to imitate, and therefore in need of protection.

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#295

Post by 83 »

SeanLuke wrote: post #197
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The weird thing is, I don't see that much of a price difference between high-end "domestic" parmesan cheeses and the proper Parmigiano-Reggiano. The Saravecchio Parmesan (that's the Wisconsin domestic you're referring to, I assume) is about $17.99/lb, and the real, imported stuff is about $20/lb--even cheaper at places like Costco. So why not just get the real thing?

The big difference in cost is in the number of months of aging. Cheap Parmigiano-Reggiano might be 20-24 months old. It gets much better tasting, and more expensive, at 36 months, and better still (and more costly) at 40 months. We'd buy Parmigiano-Reggiano at Iper La Grande, a massive grocery store (imagine if a Wegmans and a Target merged) in northern Italy; there 40 month old would be about twice the price as 24 m…

That some really odd pricing, there's no investment out there where you could purchase for x, let it sit for 16 months, and then sell for 2x. You'd think the manufacturers or some other entity would just be buying all the 24month to age another 16 months to double their money (less some warehouse / transport overhead).

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#296

Post by fatnoah »

wahnfrieden wrote: post #47
fatnoah wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I miss about my old place in the city was the ridiculously expensive market on my block that carried all of the "real" cheese. The real stuff was so fantastic and flavorful that I usually used far less of it, which partially offset the cost. I also got a $20 jar of pasta sauce there once. I was embarrassed at how much I paid and didn't tell my wife. After her first taste, her reaction was "OMG, what is this…

Pianogrillo?

This was in the mid-2000's, so my memory is pretty fuzzy. I'll definitely check that brand out, though.

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#297

Post by fatnoah »

fatnoah wrote: post #34
jihadjihad wrote: post #25

OT, but I just have to say, as someone who buys "Parmesan" cheese that typically hails from Wisconsin, there is just no comparison with legit Parmigiano-Reggiano. It's the same with "Gruyere" and Gruyère -- a wholly unique cheese with a depth of flavor and character that is just inimitable, no matter how good or faithful the imitation may be. That being said, I'm not ashamed at all to say that the Parmesan I use most…

One thing I miss about my old place in the city was the ridiculously expensive market on my block that carried all of the "real" cheese. The real stuff was so fantastic and flavorful that I usually used far less of it, which partially offset the cost. I also got a $20 jar of pasta sauce there once. I was embarrassed at how much I paid and didn't tell my wife. After her first taste, her reaction was "OMG, what is this…

Wow, I didn't expect such a great discussion on tomatoes and sauces. I have a few things to check out.

My own tomato story comes from another place in the city where I had a private roofdeck. It was basically full sun all day long. I planted 4 tomato plants, which were amazingly productive, and the tomatoes were so delicious that we ate them with lunch and dinner almost every day. My favorite summer snack became (and still is) a slice of fresh tomato topped with a slice of fresh mozzarella, lightly drizzled with a "green" olive oil, and garnished with fresh basil.

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#298

Post by guerrilla »

rocqua wrote: post #289
guerrilla wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am all for trademarks. But 'only things made here can have this name' is silly protectionism Can you explain what you mean? This seems like a contradiction... Is branding not trademark? If you're for trademarks, why would someone else be permitted to use their branding? (Devil's advocate. I'm not actually all for trademarks.)

I believe trademarks protect customers by allowing a company to build a reputation and giving a customer certainty about who they are buying from. I do not believe trademarks that protect a region, rather than a company actually have benefit to a customer. Instead it feels to me like these regional trade-marks are ways a government can appease a local community by enshrining in law that they are the 'one true place'.…

The region is just a collection of companies... Identical logic applies. It's just as if one company bought up all the little ones, no different...

> This is benefiting the local community at the cost of anyone else who is capable of delivering the same quality but is now excluded only by virtue of their location.

No it's not, people can make better stuff and put their own brand on it... Nobody excluded from making better parmesean, only from lying that it's from that region when it's not...

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#300

Post by jeffdn »

glaucon wrote: post #157
jeffdn wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's in the rind, which you'd be hard pressed to eat!

Pretty mainstream to use Parmesan cheese rinds as part of making soups and stews of various kinds https://www.allrecipes.com/article/how-to-use-parmesan-chees...

For sure, but then you take it out before you serve it (at least in my experience).
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