# ...all my life, I've been eating FAKE Parmesan cheese!



## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

I have to give credit to GRANA PADERNO cheese for opening my eyes...

Grana Padano - Wikipedia














I eat a lot of pasta, and can't eat much cheese, but can get away with Parmesan as it's lower in fat and drier than most other cheeses

So I *always* have grated Parmesan on pasta ( or up until now, what I thought was Parmesan )

well one day I bought a chunk of this Grana Paderno, and it was amazing grated over the Rotini...I mean, REALLY good...way better than the "Parmesan" I had been using, forever.

plus it had that logo burned into it.....what was this cheese???

I went off to WIKI, same link as above

That's where I discovered the rivalry between PARMIGIANO REGGIATA and GRANA PADERNO cheese...and the Law stating those cheeses can only be named thus, if they are actually FROM ITALY, made in those regions. ( kind of like Champagne in France )

Therefore Parmesan I've been eating all my life, was made in North America and branded as "Parmesan", but it wasn't the real thing!!

Well...this set me off on a mission to try some of this REAL PARMESAN. First the Wiki link:

Parmigiano-Reggiano - Wikipedia













I found a local place that had the authentic, imported from Italy, bigass chunks of the real thing. cut into smaller chunks like the pic above

I grated it over the Fettucine I made that night, and was BLOWN AWAY!!!!

The real deal is SO MUCH BETTER than the CRAP they sell us over here....I cannot believe it.

although Gran Paderno and Parmegiano Reggiano are similar, they are indeed different

They are both really good

I cannot get over the fact that I never knew about this. I mean, I have been buying chunks of what I thought was the real deal...never using that pre-grated Kraft garbage, but what I thought was the real cheese

the real stuff is so good, you can eat it on it's own! and it doesn't smell like someone else's feet!!









I guess anyone here who is actually Italian is probably laughing at me. But how the hell was I supposed to know?

MUNGICAKE, I AM

As for all the other MUNGICAKES, you owe it to yourself to hunt some of this down. it is that good.

IMO

*edit* but make sure it has that logo/writing burned into the rind. That is the only way to verify it, and it's illegal to copy. There is a lot of the fake stuff out there branded as the real deal, but it doesn't have that rind!!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

I love pasta also and we live very close to an Italian deli...need I say more?

Have you ever tried (real) Romano cheese? 
Pecorino Romano - Wikipedia
Salty and smells like very dirty gym socks..tastes great! ...especially with pasta!

While we are on the topic...Do you like Italian wine also? 
I study it and have about 20 bottles on hand at any given time.

Thanks for starting this thread.


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## vokey design (Oct 24, 2006)

greco said:


> I love pasta also and we live very close to an Italian deli...need I say more?
> 
> Have you ever tried (real) Romano cheese?
> Pecorino Romano - Wikipedia
> ...


Which deli? Always in search or great places to get quality ingredients


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

vokey design said:


> Which deli?


Italo Foods, 1601 River Road, Kitchener, ON.


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## GWN! (Nov 2, 2014)

At first I though this was an April's fools joke. My two best friends are of Italian origin. Like greco I love Pecorino Romano on my pasta. Grana Padano is similiar but is not Parmesan. 

Grana Padano vs Parmigiano Reggiano: What's the Difference?


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## ZeroGravity (Mar 25, 2016)

I grew up thinking this was Parmesan Cheese


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## BGood (Feb 20, 2015)

PECORINO ! Yea sir.
Since I can't eat casein anymore, mostly found in cow milk, I started looking for alternative cheeses and the Pecorino came about. I do miss the Reggiano, but I do real well with the ewe and goat milk cheeses. Look it up.


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

greco said:


> I love pasta also and we live very close to an Italian deli...need I say more?
> 
> Have you ever tried (real) Romano cheese?
> Pecorino Romano - Wikipedia
> ...


well...ROMANO was my other cheese of choice, for pasta. I used to mix it up with ( fake ) Parmesan

but I bet I was eating FAKE ROMANO as well!!

thanks for the tip, I will hunt that down

as for wine, I pretty much stick to California Cabernet Sauvignon. Or sometimes Malbec

I got fed up with Canadian wine. We get blasted with so much marleting here in Ontario about Niagara wines, I even joined a wine club, but IMO it can't hold a candle to California red

"J Lohr" is my preferred stuff, for a reasonable price that I drink regularily. I think it's $23 a bottle & tastes as good as some $70 reds I've tried

got any Italian wine suggestions? I'll try some!

*edit* ps I religiously decant wine now, for approx 45 mins, before drinking it. It makes a huge difference, especially with expensive wines. I am surprised more restaurants don't do this, it's almost a waste of a bottle to drink it right after opening


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## GWN! (Nov 2, 2014)

My favorite italian wine. Amarone Della Valpolicella. Also very nice is Barolo,, di Montalcino, Valpolicella Ripasso.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

Powdered parmesan cheese tastes like vomit to me.


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## BGood (Feb 20, 2015)

butterknucket said:


> Powdered parmesan cheese tastes like vomit to me.


It is.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

> *...all my life, I've been eating FAKE Parmesan cheese!*


Don't feel bad. About 99% of the mahogany used for guitars is fake mahogany. 

I love good cheese but it's so expensive in Canada, because of the govt protection of that industry in Eastern Canada (I'm sure benefiting the western producers as well now).



butterknucket said:


> Powdered parmesan cheese tastes like vomit to me.


It sure does smell like it. Yech!


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

The big problem with parmesan is the variability in quality from one brand to another. Its very much like olive oil, you need to have a source of the good stuff. I used to get Bonat Parmesan from a local italian deli, 4 years old, it was spectacular, but the supply dried up.


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## TheYanChamp (Mar 6, 2009)

Its amazing the crap that I was fed as a kid compared to how I cook now.

My mom can't believe how we make our own mayo, mustard, pasta, dressings, cured meats, bread, tortillas, stocks, heck, anything. You can thank Youtube for most of it!

Screw kraft and campbells.


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## bluebayou (May 25, 2015)

Manufacturers of pre grated parmesan cheese add cellulose to it to prevent caking. Cellulose is made from the centuries old trees they cut down in BC.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

bluebayou said:


> .... Cellulose is made from the centuries old trees they cut down in BC.


Is this a nice/scientific way of saying "sawdust" ?


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Duplicate...What do I do wrong to have these frequent duplicates?


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

ZeroGravity said:


> I grew up thinking this was Parmesan Cheese


Me too! lol That's the crap that I have been using and thinking it was the real deal until I went out for real Italian home cooking. They grated it over their pasta by hand. It does taste so much better but it's more expensive as well but WTH I am worth it.


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

I had fresh made Italian ravioli with real parmesan and it was incredible. Dough hand made from scratch with a meat filling(pre vegetarian days) and an incredible tomato sauce with a generous sprinkling of real parmesan. I have never tasted anything that delicious ever.


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## BGood (Feb 20, 2015)

bluebayou said:


> Cellulose is made from the centuries old trees they cut down in BC.


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

bluebayou said:


> Manufacturers of pre grated parmesan cheese add cellulose to it to prevent caking. Cellulose is made from the centuries old trees they cut down in BC.


The powdered stuff I get at Costco does lump up in the bottle and I have to shake the heck out of it to break up the lumps. Does that mean there's no sawdust in it?


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## Alex (Feb 11, 2006)

ZeroGravity said:


> I grew up thinking this was Parmesan Cheese


I worked many summers in a plant and one of the characters, his nickname was "The Rat", used to put 1/2 to a full can of this stuff on his spaghetti. The first time I experienced this, I was walking towards the lunch room and noticed everyone except one person were sitting on one end of the room. The smell was unbelievable and left me marked forever! I still have a mild disdain for Parmesan but have come to like a bit of the real stuff over the years.


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## bluebayou (May 25, 2015)

Guitar101 said:


> The powdered stuff I get at Costco does lump up in the bottle and I have to shake the heck out of it to break up the lumps. Does that mean there's no sawdust in it?


Check the ingredients on the package.


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