My grandfather and I are having a discussion. He says that you want to buy parmigiano with the white spots and veins in the cheese. I say that you want the parmigiano that is the most pure orange-yellow, and that the white color is evidence that the cheese has dried a bit. Who is right?

Don't the white cracks and spots develop simply as the cheese ages? It naturally loses moisture, but I wouldn't classify that as a negative.

Yeah, I'm with Amy on this one.

Absolutely! I had a French chef stay here last week and we cooked together. I almost passed out when he proposed to dig the white spots out of my 4 year old Parmigiano Reggiano. I don't think he'll do that again!

I feel better than - I have a large piece of Parmigiano that is developing white spots - I thought I would have to toss it. ARGH

Now can anyone tell me what to do with the hard 'crust' that is left at the end?

JDeQ, put the hard crust that is left at the end in a minestrone and leave it cook looooong... personally I do not like it but it's a classic!

Good quality Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano should show no cracks and no bubbles and have a uniform and slightly yellowish color. Whiter spots and cracks may develope when the cheese has dried if it's been cut and left in contact with air for too long, that's why it should always kept in a sealed container or bag and never-ever grated before you need it (well, a couple of hours are OK). The dried cheese, while not necessarly gone bad, loses lots of its flavor and its' more prone to go bad.

I keep the parmesan crusts in a ziplog in the freezer and throw them into soups. They don't make the soup taste cheesy, but do add a kind of richness to the flavor.

Alice, you can't find 4-5 year old Parmigiano that doesn't have crystals and cracks. If you wrap it tightly it molds, so what the cheese guy here says is wrap it in a vinegared cloth or keep it in a cheese safe unwrapped.

Vinegared cloth? Could you explain that, Judith? Is it just what it sounds like? Do you refrigerate it? I always wrap mine in parchment, then foil, and refrigerate.

quote:

a vinegared cloth

Doesn't that taint the cheese?

We bought two large pieces of cheese back from the Ostuni market in April. The parmigiano has developed some mould spots (I'd tried baking parchment this time, inside a ziplock) - but the pecorino romano is still absolutely fine.

Crusts - I added some to a pork stew a few weeks ago: excellent!

Jonathan

As reggiano ages, the moisture loss will make for small fissures since the outer crust of the cheese is hard and will not change its shape as easily as the cheese inside. The white cryustals in an older cheese (starting at 2 years but becomming prevalent at 3-4) are calcium crystals that form as the cheese loses water and the fat water solid balance changes. They are a sign of quality in an older cheese. They should melt on the tongue almost instantly. If they are hard and crunchy then the cheese is older than it should have been. Only few cheeses can ages more than 3 years and actually improve (there is a difference between old reggiano and aged reggiano).

If a cheese has a fissure in it, it should be cut up and sold immediately, this is a major quality flaw. There should never be any internal moold in reggiano. The banco where the cheese ages should hammer the cheese regularly to monitor for the development of these fissures and immediately cut a cheese that has one.

Last add is that the best way to keep reggiano at home is wrapped in cheese paper (which allows the passage of moisture out from the cheese) in the cheese drawer of your fridge. You should not keep cut cheeses longer than a few days if possible. Buy small amounts and buy more often.

Cheese paper? I've never heard of that. Do they sell it at Whole Foods?

Vinnegar totally flaws the cheese's flavor. I think your cheese guy (let me say: never trust a cheesemonger who is not a native Emiliano or Mantovano on Parmigiano Reggiano cheese! I have seen totally "balo'" cheese sold as first rate in Tuscany!) got a bit confused on the right method to preserve the Parmigiano Reggiano and to preserve the cured meats (in a cloth wet with white wine). As Dean says, cheese paper if you have any, or rolled in a clean cloth (which allows some moisture to seep out) then in a sealed container or in a plastic bag (which keeps it from drying out). no plastic bag alone, no cloth alone: both are needed, and the loth must be replaced and washed (in water) from time to time. And, lie Dean says, buy less and more often, or have our cheese wedge cut in smaller pieces and sealed in airtight wraps. 24 hours before using it, unwrap the cheese and roll it into the cloth, with no plastic or sealed container. Add the plastic bag only after 24 hours. And keep in the warmest apart of the fridge.

One fla thing: whe you buy, make sure you get a piece with still lots of crust: the crust helps the cheese stay nice for longer. Remove as little as you must to grate the cheese, remove the crust with at elast 1 cm (1/3 of an inch) of cheese, scrape the other layer and add it to minestrone or long-cooking soups like Giulia said, or place it on the barbecue and grill it (you can save the crusts for this in the freezer, until you have a good amount).

quote:

You should not keep cut cheeses longer than a few days if possible. Buy small amounts and buy more often.

Counsel of perfection, certainly! But... the parmigiano that I can buy from my favourite cheese stall in Ostuni market is both better, and (a lot) cheaper than here in Stroud. Trouble is - I'm only in Ostuni a few times a year. So preservation is an issue!

Jonathan

In this case, have it cut in smaller pieces and packaged in sealed airtight wraps.

Thanks, I will forward him this thread

I keep my pieces of parm wrapped in kitchen paper towels and then again wrapped in aluminum foil and it stays perfect.

Matt, say hi to your dad for me!

I did do the vinegar cloth one time. I can only get those really aged Parmigiani when I go to the Mercato Centrale in Florence unless someone features it here. Naturally I buy quite a lot when I do. It didn't do anything to the flavor. It prevented mold. It doesn't after all, stay wet. I think if you keep a looong time you may have to re-wet and re-wring it. It is how my neighbors keep theirs because it is how it was kept before refrigeration. It hasn't been that long that refrigerators have been in every Italian home. People used to buy the whole wheel for a family and use it over time. They couldn't possibly have vacuum packed or parchment packed a wheel of cheese. But they could wring out a cloth and wrap it.

I suppose vacuum packing would be OK if I had one so that every time I open it I can re-do it. But I don't. I use instead a cheese coffer designed for the purpose in which you do not wrap it but do keep it in the fridge.

And yes, Dean. I am talking about small fissures, not huge cracks and chasms. I use the little spade thingy knife to break off pieces quite often, so obviously they are the result of that.

Actually, before refrigeretaion it wasn't kept in cloths. In first place, up until the early 1960's the cheese was in smaller wheels, up to half as big as they are now, and the cfrust wasn't clear, it was darkened with soot (as they still do for Granone Lodigiano), which prevented the mould. On opening a wheel, the cut surface was burned, to melt the cheese and make it seal any fissure that may have occurred, and covered in soot like the crust. The cut wedges were kept in the undergroound basements, at a lower temperature, rolled in a clean and dry white cloth and inside small cages that prevented raditors' attacks. The basements were wet enough to prevent the cheese from drying out. A wedge didn't either last as long as it does now, since in Emilia (the "grana" cheeses rarely left their production areas) the families were really large, with several generations living toghether in a communal house, and the cheese and the various prosciutto and salumi were usually the one and only source of proteins, except on sundays when the occasional rabbit or chicken was sacrificed.

As to the vinegared cloth: I think it depends on what sort of "vinegar" one uses. I have read that if you use very good balsamico (I guess this is not really "vinegar") you can prolong the life of the cheese for decades. Unfortunately, I no longer have the reference to this information.

Anyway, is this true? Does this depend on the precise age of the balsamico and the nature of the grass that the animals were fed?

Consider that a 100 ml bottle (1/10 of a liter, 1/5 of a pint) of Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale costs and is worth (if purchased directly from the producer) a minimum of 60 euro (for the lowest qualiti Balsamico Tradizionale, aged "only" 12 years and 6 months, that is plus the concentration and acetification processes).

Aceto Balsamico is not really vinnegar, it's a completley different product and should be used as such. It's also much more flavorful than vinnegar, although not sour at all. It's not liquid, more of a jelly, and would not make a rag damp, just cover it with a sticky layer of sirupy brown stuff, that will never wash away and will stain anything.

There is an article I wrote on an acetaia that's awaiting publication that explains a bit bettger what is Aceto Balsamico tradizionale and how it's made (and where to go if you want to visit an acetaia). It should be published on SlowTrav soon enough.