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Making cheese wheels
 Once the grains had been teased out, the milk was cooked properly and stirred continuously with a special wooden tool.
Strips of dry firewood were used to stoke the fire beneath the cauldron so that the fire would reach 50 - 52 °C (50 °C was preferable) as the milk would be acidic and low in fat at this temperature.
During this process, the fire was so hot that it would often scorch the shirts of the sotcaldéra (cheese-maker’s assistants) who had the most laborious and menial tasks in the dairy.
Once the milk had finished cooking, the cauldron was taken off the fire and the wooden tool removed. The grains would then sink to the bottom and clot to form the cheese.
Then, with the help of a cloth, the cheese-makers set about the laborious task of removing the curds that had settled on the bottom of the cauldron. Parmesan cheese-makers used a shovel to solve this problem. Once it had been removed, the cheese was left to stand in a bucket for between 30 minutes to 1 hour in order to drain the hot whey.
 Fascera
The cheese, still wrapped in its cloth, was put into a "fascera", a high, round wooden mould with a sturdy rope wrapped around it, which could be tightened or loosened as required.
A cheese wheel made with 5 - 6 quintals of milk would be poured in a “fascera” that was 22 cm high and about double that in diameter.
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Consorzio per la tutela del Formaggio Grana Padano
