I’m going to do something crazy here and NOT TALK ABOUT CHEESE. This is because our Sunday charcuterie guy, Joe, sent me a text of an incredible picture from the Pio Tosini Prosciutto di Parma aging cellar and it inspired me to get to know our Italian prosciutto better. I mean look at that picture! Isn’t it stunning? It is a cathedral of meat, as many people have said, with rows perfect prosciuttos hanging off racks up the high walls and across the ceiling where we worship good farming, careful tending, and delicious cured pork.

The Pio Tosini family, now in the fourth generation of prosciutto makers, cure their hams in the town of Langhirano, located on the eastern side of the Parma region, which is the region where, according to PDO rules, all Prosciutto di Parma is made (makes sense, right). I was looking at pictures of the town to understand the area and because it’s February and I’m dreaming of world travel, and it is exactly the medieval Italian town you have in your mind right now. There’s a big castle, small, tight streets, and endless rolling hills where every inch is cultivated besides the decorative tree lines that separate one farmer’s fields from another. The air is perfumed with dry sea air, chestnut groves, and pine forests, according to the luck ducks who’ve visited and the luckier ducks who call the place home. I want to go to there.

Pio Tosini has an excellent reputation in a small field of people with excellent reputations because they treat their product with such care. First, they debone their own pork, which is unusual for prosciutto producers who usually outsource this part. By deboning the pork legs themselves they guarantee the pork is at its freshest before starting the curing process. They also use less salt than their competitors so the pork flavor, instead of just the salt, can really shine. To get less salt to permeate farther into the meat, they have to let the pork hang out for over 600 days, 200 days longer than the PDO rules require. This slow curing also ensures an even permeation of salt that helps create the irresistible sweetness that marks a good prosciutto. They refuse to push their hams out the door until they’re good and ready, gosh darn it!

Does all this love and time really make a difference? Is Pio Tosini Prosciutto di Parma THAT good?? Why yes friends, yes it is. Each meltingly tender slice tastes sweet and nutty, like roasted chestnuts. I recommend draping a few slices on a plate and sitting down somewhere where you won’t be disturbed so it can just be you and Pio Tosini Prosciutto. You certainly won’t regret it.

For the love of cheese and cured pork legs,

Kiri

PS I got the picture and a lot of good information from this article on one of my favorite websites, Serious Eats. Check it out only if you’re ready for your mouth to water uncontrollably.