In Pepys' era, a single wheel weighed around 200 lbs (90 kg) and was seen as a symbol of opulence. Parmesan's elaborate production process is what makes it so highly sought-after, and expensive, to this day. The resulting cheese is aged for a minimum of 12 months, though Parmesan gets stronger and crumblier with age. Natural whey and rennet (curdled milk from the stomach of unweaned calves) are added, creating a bacteria blend unique to Parma. Each wheel requires an impressive 550 liters (145 US gallons) of milk sourced from grass-fed cows. As far back as 1612, the Duke of Parma recognized cheese from Parma as the only true Parmesan, officially protecting it from copycat cheeses.įor centuries, authentic Parmesan cheese, labelled Parmigiano Reggiano, has been produced using this ancient recipe. The recipe for Parmesan cheese was designed to ensure its long preservation by using salt from the nearby Salsomaggiore salt mines and milk from cows raised in local monasteries, before being aged in large wheels. The Great Fire of London by Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg. This famous Italian cheese, dubbed the King of Cheeses, was created by monks in Parma and Reggio Emilia during the Middle Ages and has a history going back almost 1,000 years. Regarding the Great Fire of London, you might wonder why someone would bury Parmesan during such a catastrophic event.

World's Oldest Cheese Contender Found in Egyptian Tomb.

Fighting the Flaming Wrath - The Great Fire of London, 1666.

It was only transcribed into plain English in the 1820s.

He did however bind the loose pages into six volumes and ensured his diary survived after his death in 1703. Written in tachygraphy shorthand, Pepys never intended the diary to be read by his contemporaries. Besides a vivid account of the Great Fire of London, the diary of Samuel Pepys has also been remembered for its candid details about Pepys' various infidelities. Samuel Pepys has principally been remembered for the diary he kept between 16, which has provided profound insight into the everyday life of 17th-century London. On the third day of the fire, while London experienced a panicked mass exodus, Samuel Pepys joined forces with a friend, dug a hole and buried his Parmesan cheese for safekeeping. As the Great Fire of London swept through the city in 1666, destroying over 13,000 houses in its wake, the now-famed diarist Samuel Pepys was on a mission.

The great fire of london pepys