The story of an old and authentic family tradition.
As Renato Boni says, “it was in 1951 that my father Oddone succeeded my grandfather Mario and moved the seat of the firm to San Siro di Torrile. I remember the production being at that moment just 3 cheeses daily. In 1959, when I started working with my father, we registered a substantial increase in both production and sales. Another seat was opened in 1973 in Bezze di Torrile, with new offices and seasoning rooms. Our business significantly grew in 1977, when we began to trade Grana Padano. In 1986 our firm became a joint-stock company, with share capital of 10 billion lire and in 1989 we started producing vacuum-packed cheeses.
In 1998, in order to improve the production of GMO-Free Parmigiano Reggiano from both a qualitative and a quantitative point of view, we decided to buy a farm that covers an area of 350 hectares and includes a cowshed with 1200 Friesian cows. The milk from these cows is used to produce nearly 50 cheeses daily. Our cows are fed only on strictly controlled local pasture and vegetal feedstuff. Neither fermented forages nor additives are allowed. The only ingredients of natural and handmade Parmigiano Reggiano are milk, rennet and salt. Fifteen litres of milk are required to produce a kilogram of cheese; since each wheel of cheese weighs nearly 38 kilograms, six hundred litres of milk are necessary to produce it. Parmigiano Reggiano is a PDO product; both milk and cheese are produced within a very strictly defined local area. The minimal seasoning lasts 12 months; however, only a 24-months-seasoning allows to appreciate the greatest exaltation of its taste and its optimal digestibility. Each cheese is marked with some little points, in order to denote its place and date of origin, and, if it gets through the qualitative check, it is also fire-branded with the well-known oval mark.
What I would like to point out is that Parmigiano Reggiano is made, instead of manufactured; and it is made with the same simple and authentic ingredients that were used eight centuries ago, such as excellent local milk, fire and rennet. All of these ingredients are processed with the ancient and wise dairyman’s methods. And, last but not least, the seasoning, an essential step in the production which can last more than two years: during this process, in fact, wheels of cheese must be polished, turned and checked day by day in order to make sure that cheese is matured according to the refinement standard.
I am a man of facts, not of words: hence, I love winning. I love my job and I do it with enthusiasm – a fundamental ingredient, together with a little luck, to reach a success in the career - but I do not teach it. The only way to learn a job is to watch carefully those who know how to do it. And by doing this, you should catch even the slightest nuance of this job. This is how I learned it. My father, in fact, never told me or explained how to do it: he just showed it to me. When I succeeded him, I remember people wondering if I would ever have been able to run our firm. Nowadays, I just hope that my children Paolo and Paola, who already work in the firm, will be able to keep up with this authentic family tradition: a great opportunity that was set up by their great-grandparents and developed by their grandparents and parents.”