Not all hams are created equal.
The curing cellar at Pio Tosini unfolds in more directions than the eye can see. Salted hams hang on floor-to-ceiling racks in long corridors, each a mirror image of the next. It's vast and eerily still, but undeniably alive; I feel as though I've been swept into a current of silent, invisible activity. A molecular ecosystem is hard at work here, a partnership of mountain breezes, enzymatic reactions, and microorganisms that will, with time, transform each leg of pork into coveted.
There's a whole chain of tracking codes, tags, and stamps used over the course of the slaughter and aging process, but consumers can best recognize true Parma-made ham by the five-point ducal crown that's branded on each haunch . Before that branding takes place, though, the final product has to be approved by an inspector. Back in Pio Tosini's curing cellar, I witness one at work. His job? Repeatedly plunging a traditional, or horse bone needle, into each ham at multiple points.
Pio Tosini is also the only remaining prosciutto di Parma facility that completely halts production during the spring months. It's a traditional measure that all producers used to take—spring pigs experience hormonal changes that impact the quality of their fat. In more recent decades, livestock have been selectively bred to minimize these changes, allowing producers to operate year-round. But Bianchi insists that he still notices a difference.
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