I’ve mentioned before that every single wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano comes with a number molded right into the rind. Above the date of production, this tells you where the cheese is from, either a small region or a particular farm, depending on the size. Sometimes I even buy numbers in particular if the parm is notably special, but you can’t go too far with that since the season in which the milk was produced plays a factor too.
However, in 15 years of cheese I never got this number before:
That’s right. 415!* Represent!
It’s already divided the department between those of us who grew up in the Bay Area and can’t stop joking about it, and the transplants who wish we would just shut up.
But we can’t stop talking about ourselves. That’s how we do it in the Sco.
I’m going to have to see if we can get more.
*415 is the area code for SF and Marin now, but it was the area code for the whole Bay Area when I was growing up.
Gordon ("Zola") Edgar 