Salina is a place of silence and expectation, but for Alex, every place is an opportunity for flavor and adventure.
Alex and the Salty Ocean
After his adventures in the boiler room and the warehouse, Alex had earned a reputation as a true daredevil. His next obsession was the Salina, the pool where the Parmigiano Reggiano wheels took their salt bath.
"Dad Artur," asked Alex, "what does cheese taste like before it becomes Parmigiano Reggiano Pratichiera?"
"Sweet, but almost tasteless. It's the salt, Alex, that prepares it for curing. It's the most important and most boring part of the journey," Artur replied.
Boring? For a foodie like Alex, it was the perfect opportunity to try "cheese in transition"!
The Approach to the Great Basin
Alex slipped back into the dairy. The salt pan was a large resin or steel tank, filled with saturated brine (water and rock salt) and filled with shapes, submerged like ships in a calm ocean.
The problem was twofold: the salt was burning her paws, and Kicca the Squinty One was perched on a wooden beam right above the tub, apparently asleep.
Alex knew he couldn't cross the floor. He had to use the pool itself as a path. Alex found a small walnut shell that a worker had dropped. Perfect! A small dinghy to cross the Salty Ocean.
Silently, he placed the shell in the water, jumped in, and began paddling with two small splinters of wood.
Hunting on the Water
Kicca, in fact, wasn't asleep at all. She was laying an ambush. She heard the click-click of Alex's paddles against the crust of a cheese. She snapped open her half-closed eye.
"Aha! A sailor rat!" he hissed. Kicca grabbed a paw and squirted salty brine toward Alex. Drops of salt fell onto the dinghy.
Alex huddled in the nutshell. "Enemy attack! Acidic water!" he thought. But the saltwater, instead of damaging him, gave the shell an unexpected push, making him slide toward one of the forms. Alex reached Form 171, which was halfway through its "salt bath." He clung to it and left the raft. The cheese was still soft and spongy on the surface, the crust just forming. Yum! The flavor was sweet, milky, but with a hint of salt that tingled the tongue.
Kicca spotted Alex on the shape. Unable to walk in the salt water, she decided to jump onto one of the nearby shapes!
With a decisive leap, Kicca landed on Form 172, wobbly slightly. It was a bit like walking on clouds.
Alex saw the looming shadow. Kicca braced herself for the final leap!
Alex had a flash of genius. Form 171 and 172 were very close.
As Kicca leaped toward him, Alex did something unexpected: he pulled out a paddle and used it to lightly tap the side of the Form 172 that Kicca had just landed on.
The shape, being immersed in the water, swayed slightly. Kicca, who wasn't very well balanced in the water, lost her footing and plop! fell into the brine!
The Unexpected Bathroom
Kicca immediately surfaced, screaming (a very salty meow!). The salt burned her eyes and fur. She flailed her paws, swimming toward the edge. It was truly humiliating!
"Ugh! I'm a pickle!" he complained, landing with a wet thud.
Alex, meanwhile, had taken refuge on the edge of the Salina, chuckling. He'd gotten his taste and defeated his rival without even using his teeth, just a little physics.
While Kicca ran off to lick her salt-burned fur and vow revenge, Alex returned to his hole, happy with his little taste of "salt" cheese.
"Alex, you're a taste explorer!" Mama Marta praised him. "But please, next time, skip the salt water!"
Alex smiled, already thinking about how he would explore the brush section that cleaned the aged cheeses...
