Santa Rita

Santa Rita Bio Dairy: the goldsmith of parmesan

On a hillside in Modena, there is a farm that produces only 14 blocks of parmesan every single day, more quality, for less quantity. Let’s discover this amazing producer together!

We all know there is a world-famous cheese made in Italy. We all know that in Modena, Parma, and Reggio Emilia, there is a white treasure that, for the people of these cities, is worth more than gold.

We all know that Italian recipes, from the south to the north, often need this magic ingredient to make a dish an “Italian dish”.

We are talking about his majesty, the Parmigiano Reggiano, or Parmesan Cheese.

It’s difficult to talk about this cheese without being passionate, and it’s also difficult to say that some farms and producers make a parmesan better, tastier, and more respectful to nature than the parmesan you can find in every market (and these last – I swear – are still great and excellent products).

But we at Kaataa like to pull down the walls of the clichés, and, instead, we want to show to you all a producer called “The Santa Rita Bio Dairy.”

They are not a young farm that wants to follow the organic food trend; they have been producing since 1966 and have been an organic dairy since 1988. This signifies that they have been linked to the territory, to the lands, and to the hillsides that host their dairy for a long time; a great story of respect and a strong link with nature.

The parmesan they produce comes from a specific breed of cows, La Bianca Modenese, a cow that some years ago was almost extinct for the small quantity of milk she produced. But small quantity doesn’t mean low quality; on the contrary, the Bianca Modenese produces milk containing a specific beta-casein that perfectly suits the production of parmesan cheese.

In the regions of Pompeano and Serramazzoni, on a pristine hillside of Modena, the Santa Rita Farm breeds their cows with a strong link to nature. No GM crops are used; no chemical products are added to the plants the cows eat. Thanks to the coordinated effort, they let the ground and nature follow their rhythms and cycles. This is the secret ingredient of the amazing flavors of their cheeses, made with mountain milk. When you taste a slice of Santa Rita’s parmesan, I swear – it’s like walking in the fields of the Modena hills; try it!

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Every single day this dairy produces 13 blocks of parmesan, and a single one made with only Bianca Modenese milk. The dairy has a series of zones that follow the creation of the parmesan from the fields to the cheese. One zone is focused on the production of organic forage, one for breeding the animals, another for producing the cheese, and the last one for preparing and packing the parmesan for selling.

It’s a small, cottage industry with and handcrafted produce and a high level of quality; it’s like going inside a perfume store with many aromas! We hope we have made you hungry and curious enough to drive up to the hills of Modena, where there is a world of “umami” ready to be discovered.

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