A culinary trip was organized on Sunday the 15th of February. Our destination was Antica Corte Pallavicina, a small castle in Polinese Parmense in Italy. It was a deserted village near Parma, where you can find a lot of Italian culinary heritage. The trip was organised by Vanilla venture, our supplier for delicacies such as caviar, olive oil and dried hams of which one is the Culatello. Vanilla venture maintains strong relationships with her suppliers. This was also the reason for our culinary trip. With a small group of colleagues of other restaurants we were invited to take a look behind the scenes and learn how the Culatello is made.

The small castle is owned by the family Spigaroli for more then a hundred years, at this moment Massimo Spigaroli is the person behind the Culatello. It is nice to see how passionate he is about his work. If he tells about his work he radiates passion and pride. We really enjoyed listening to him.

The main objective of our trip was to see how the Culatello di Zibello is made. The work is very labour-intensive and old-fashioned. The Culatello is made of the bottom and Culatello literally means ‘nice bottom'. The Culatello is pickled with salt and covered with red wine and garlic. After a couple days of pickling the Culatello is packed in a hog’s bladder to be tied up with the hand and a special technique.

The Culatello is left hanging to dry for 20 days and will be checked. In this period the Culatello is most sensitive for bacterial contagions or rotting. After 20 days they are transferred to a barn where they should dry climatologically for 6 months. The weather has a strong influence on the drying process of the Culatello. Only one man is responsibly for the barn, he decides whenever the windows or doors can be opened.

After these 6 months the Culatello hangs in the basement of the castle in Antica Corte Pallavicina. The Culatello dries further and is influenced by the weather situation. Depending on the quality and the type of the Culatello, they should dry for at least one year. The castle is situated near the river Po. The various weather situations, which can change during each part of the day, have a strong influence on the Culatello. The youngest Culatello is at least 17 months old and this can run up to 37 months or even more.

During our trip we have seen all the different steps the Culatello goes through which gave us a clear view of the production of this exclusive product. It was a very interesting experience and I had a great time!

Regards,

Marc van der Tang
Sous Chef Ciel Bleu