http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/feb/17/parmesan-cheese-store-bought-wood-pulp
It won’t harm you, but it’s another reason to avoid the green canister.
I’ve never understood why anyone would buy pre-grated cheese of any sort. I can see, for example, a chain pizza place doing it but that’s about all.
Quicker, without shreds flying over the work surface/table, etc. I imagine it’s an especially tempting shortcut for busy families with young children, for whom operating a grater would guarantee band-aids.
I’m not sure if buying pre-grated cheese and buying the green tube are quite the same thing.
But agreed, I rarely buy pre-grated but it does happen. Most commonly mozzarella when I’m making pizza. I find a soft cheese like that a PIA to grate when I need a lot of it and don’t feel like breaking out the quisinart.
I’ve never bought the green tube … or eaten it that I can remember (who knows what happened it childhood).
Not with our daughters and their husbands.
My local supermarket sells a decent pre-grated parmesan cheese in their deli department. I like to cook, but I will find shortcuts if the quality is good.
During a recent financial setback I caved in, and used a coupon to buy the dreaded green canister of grated parmesan. Now I know why it is so reviled. It’s not so much that it tastes bad… it’s more that it has no taste at all! The freshly grated parmesan from the deli is amazing compared to the green label sawdust.
I can grate large amounts of cheese in no time so that’s a corner I don’t need to cut. I just have to believe that exposing it to air has to effect both the flavor and the texture. Just my two cents.
I’ve always puzzled my brain over why the stuff in the green can is not refrigerated…
I’ve not noticed any other parm “form” in any store that is not in a refrigerated case/area.
wonder what makes the powder in the green can never go bad?
In supermarkets around here (Boston area), there are various brands of jarred Parmesan and/or Romano right next to the unrefrigerated Kraft.
I agreed with Catholiver, that the quality of freshly grated cheese has much more flavour and you can choose the texture too. (the same goes to pepper too). The grated cheese is usually of inferior quality. In France they were sold in tiny zipped foiled bag in the fridge section. But for day to day cooking, I do opt for grated version, pure laziness after a tiring working day!
this is true. but perhaps the question is:
how come the powdered parm in a can/jar/bag does not “go bad”?
would you eat a thousand year old Twinkie?
I’ve been into DIY parm grating for a couple hundred years - so I’m outside the loop on the “shelf stable forever” stuff.
Okay, I just read the article, another food scandal. I wonder if the green canister won’t decay, what extra stuff they have added. The grated cheese I bought here do mould (hurray!) after several weeks. So I think at least they are some kind of milk product, no idea if they are real parmesan or not.
I think maybe should go back to buy the real cheese.
it’s certainly seriously more drier than parm / other cheeses you can buy in a block or a slice.
I can only imagine after they turn it into dust it’s heated to kill any microbe that might cause it to go bad after five or six years…
the cellulose is probably the healthiest thing in the can!
