Parmesan

Parmesan, in U.S. labeling, is a standardized hard cheese, not a tourist souvenir and not automatically Parmigiano-Reggiano. 21 CFR 133.165: granular texture; hard and brittle rind; grates readily; moisture not more than 32 percent; solids not less than 32 percent milkfat; cured not less than 10 months ¹. The legal names are “parmesan cheese” or “reggiano cheese.” That is a U.S. food-identity sentence. It does not award an Italian protected designation.

The make in the standard: cow’s milk (fat may be adjusted), lactic bacteria, rennet or equivalent clotting enzyme, optional calcium chloride at not more than 0.02 percent of the milk; curd cut no larger than wheat kernels, heated and stirred to 115–125 °F, hooped and pressed, then brine- or dry-salted, and cured in a cool ventilated room ¹. Small cut plus high cook is how you get a dry, granular paste — the same moisture logic as other hard cheeses on Curd and Pressing cheese.

FAO’s four stages still apply; the calendar here is the identity’s ten-month floor, not a flavor guarantee ². See Affinage and Cheese rind. Cheddar is a different composition and a different vat (cheddaring slabs, not wheat-kernel curd cooked that hot).

What to notice #

Paste should grate, not smear. Rind is hard. Crystals on a long calendar are a texture, not a defect by themselves. A long aging schedule depends on the make and cave conditions. See Cheese.