Origins
Parmesan entered English through French from Italian parmigiano, an adjective meaning from Parma.βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ The city of Parma sits in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, where monks were producing hard, aged cheese by the 13th century. Boccaccio mentioned parmigiano in the Decameron around 1350, describing a mountain of grated cheese over which people rolled pasta β early evidence that the pairing of parmesan and pasta was already well established.
The city name itself may derive from Latin parma, a small round shield carried by Roman auxiliary soldiers. Whether the settlement was named for shield-making, a shield-shaped geographical feature, or an older Etruscan word remains unclear. Whatever its origin, the place name became permanently attached to one of the world's most recognized food products.
French adopted parmigiano as parmesan, and English borrowed the French form in the 16th century. Samuel Pepys recorded burying his parmesan cheese in his garden during the Great Fire of London in 1666, treating it as a valuable possession worth saving alongside his wine and important papers.
Later History
The modern distinction between Parmigiano-Reggiano and generic parmesan is legally significant. Since 2008, Parmigiano-Reggiano has held Protected Designation of Origin status in the European Union, meaning only cheese produced in the traditional provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, and Mantua using specified methods can carry that name in EU markets. Outside Europe, parmesan remains a generic term applied to various hard cheeses.
The economics of real Parmigiano-Reggiano are unusual. Each wheel takes at least twelve months to age, and banks in Emilia-Romagna accept wheels as loan collateral, storing hundreds of thousands of them in temperature-controlled vaults β edible financial instruments aging their way to maturity.