As a tour group pauses between rows of Parmigiano Reggiano stacked to the ceiling, an Italian woman explains how she smuggles wedges of the cheese to her sister.
“No one ever looks twice at thoroughbreds,” she says, as if hiding cheese in horseboxes were the most natural thing in the world. An affineur’s hammer echoes in the distance — tap, tap, tap — and the room falls silent. These cheese professionals specialise in the process of maturing and ageing young cheeses to develop their full flavour, texture, and aroma.
