Parmesan

Parmesan, known in Italy as Parmigiano Reggiano, is a hard, granular Italian cheese made from cow's milk and aged at least twelve months; both names hold legal protection in Europe as designations of origin, certified in Italy since 1955 and across the European Union since 1992. Production is restricted to the Italian provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, the part of Bologna west of the Reno River, and the part of Mantua south of the Po, almost entirely within Emilia-Romagna, and as of 2017 the region produced about 3.6 million wheels, roughly 137,000 metric tons, a year, consuming about 18 percent of Italy's milk supply. Outside Europe the name Parmesan is often used generically for imitation hard cheeses, and a 2021 report found that 90 percent of Italian-branded cheese sold in the United States as parmesan, mozzarella, grana or gorgonzola was actually made domestically; the cheese is nicknamed the king of cheeses and remains central to Italian cooking.