Parmesan Cheese...

[Chimune]

Getting bored of the supermarket usuals.

Anyone got any secret suppliers of good stuff?

Also for extra points, anyone know of a good vegetarian one? I know that to be Parmesan it needs the rennet, but I also can't belive that there is no tasty vege hard cheese for the missus.

[evoivboy]

https://www.carnevale.co.uk/bella-lodi-vegetarian-...

[928]

There is no such thing as Parmesan, either Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano. 24 month reggiano is about the best you'll do in normal shops. If you can find somewhere prepared and able to order from decent wholesalers, ask for the core piece from a Reggiano; sweet, moist with the same flavour of the rest of the cheese.

Unless you're allergic to proper rennet, you're being hypocritical asking for veg cheese, milk = death of male calves. Why not harvest rennet?

[Tony Angelino]

evoivboy said:

https://www.carnevale.co.uk/bella-lodi-vegetarian-...

Anybody tried these ordering as a civilian? They direct you to their retail arm (delicatezza) for domestic deliveries, but on the website advertise no minimum order value. I've tried before successfully from similar websites/"trade suppliers" after forming a little buying group at work and claiming to have an on site canteen.


Looks to be some nice stuff.

[evoivboy]

Tony Angelino said:

Anybody tried these ordering as a civilian? They direct you to their retail arm (delicatezza) for domestic deliveries, but on the website advertise no minimum order value. I've tried before successfully from similar websites/"trade suppliers" after forming a little buying group at work and claiming to have an on site canteen.


Looks to be some nice stuff.

Im not sure, i've always ordered as a hotel so no problem

And yes very good quality, the hams on the bone are outstanding and cheap

[Chimune]

928 said:

There is no such thing as Parmesan, either Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano. 24 month reggiano is about the best you'll do in normal shops. If you can find somewhere prepared and able to order from decent wholesalers, ask for the core piece from a Reggiano; sweet, moist with the same flavour of the rest of the cheese.

Thanks! :-)

[Chimune]

928 said:

Unless you're allergic to proper rennet, you're being hypocritical asking for veg cheese, milk = death of male calves. Why not harvest rennet?

Why not keep to just being helpful?

[55palfers]

I'm sure I've seen 36 month in Costco

[Magic919]

I get mine here https://www.hombre.it/en/parmesan Bit of a drive, but worth the trip. Some car related stuff there and nearby.

Google found this place selling it and posting within U.K. https://www.riverford.co.uk/parmesan-150g

[StescoG66]

evoivboy said:

Im not sure, i've always ordered as a hotel so no problem

And yes very good quality, the hams on the bone are outstanding and cheap

Carnevale do the Levoni range of cured meats. They are superb!!

Don't know if you have a decent cheese emporium (cue Monty Python sketch!) near you but what they carry is generally way better than the Supermarket fodder. If you are in Glasgow would recommend a wander to George Mewes is Byres Road. Also try a nice Pecorino too if you can

[RizzoTheRat]

Check your local farmers market, there's a guy that does our local one (Farnham) that has a really nice parmesan equivalent.

[HTP99]

To me parmesan is parmesan, I grate it on to my pasta, it melts, it gives off a smell and all tastes the same, I guess it all depends on what you use it for.

[Mobile Chicane]

Waitrose has a 30 month aged Reggiano. It's light years ahead of the standard stuff. So much flavour, and not that much more expensive.

[HTP99]

Mobile Chicane said:

Waitrose has a 30 month aged Reggiano. It's light years ahead of the standard stuff. So much flavour, and not that much more expensive.

I'm rocking a 30 month Aldi one at the moment.

[Chimune]

HTP99 said:

To me parmesan is parmesan

HTP99 said:

I'm rocking a 30 month Aldi one at the moment.

Edited by Chimune on Tuesday 21st November 17:48

[Kermit power]

Chimune said:

928 said:

Unless you're allergic to proper rennet, you're being hypocritical asking for veg cheese, milk = death of male calves. Why not harvest rennet?

Why not keep to just being helpful?

Personally I thought that was helpful.

To make cheese, you need milk. You get milk because the farmer takes male calves away from their mother and butchers them, then takes the milk they would've drunk to turn into cheese instead.

If your vegetarian wife is happy to accept calves dying so that she can have milk, then it makes little sense for her not to be equally happy to have non-veggie cheese using rennet extracted from the calves that have died to provide the milk being used to make the cheese.

One would assume, therefore, that if she finds milk morally acceptable and cheese not, she simply doesn't understand what has to happen for these two products to arrive on her table, and if she's working from moral convictions, she would presumably want to have all the information on which to base her decision?

[HTP99]

Chimune said:

HTP99 said:

To me is parmesan

HTP99 said:

I'm rocking a 30 month Aldi one at the moment.

It was about £2.40, so just mentioning that Aldi do one, it's also cheap.

Edited by HTP99 on Tuesday 21st November 17:51

[Chimune]

Kermit power said:

Chimune said:

928 said:

Unless you're allergic to proper rennet, you're being hypocritical asking for veg cheese, milk = death of male calves. Why not harvest rennet?

Why not keep to just being helpful?

Personally I thought that was helpful.

To make cheese, you need milk. You get milk because the farmer takes male calves away from their mother and butchers them, then takes the milk they would've drunk to turn into cheese instead.

If your vegetarian wife is happy to accept calves dying so that she can have milk, then it makes little sense for her not to be equally happy to have non-veggie cheese using rennet extracted from the calves that have died to provide the milk being used to make the cheese.

One would assume, therefore, that if she finds milk morally acceptable and cheese not, she simply doesn't understand what has to happen for these two products to arrive on her table, and if she's working from moral convictions, she would presumably want to have all the information on which to base her decision?

Now you knew that anyway. I don't care as Im not vegetarian. My missus doesn't read Ph, I just want some umami in our risotto

[Kermit power]

Chimune said:

Kermit power said:

Chimune said:

928 said:

Unless you're allergic to proper rennet, you're being hypocritical asking for veg cheese, milk = death of male calves. Why not harvest rennet?

Why not keep to just being helpful?

Personally I thought that was helpful.

To make cheese, you need milk. You get milk because the farmer takes male calves away from their mother and butchers them, then takes the milk they would've drunk to turn into cheese instead.

If your vegetarian wife is happy to accept calves dying so that she can have milk, then it makes little sense for her not to be equally happy to have non-veggie cheese using rennet extracted from the calves that have died to provide the milk being used to make the cheese.

One would assume, therefore, that if she finds milk morally acceptable and cheese not, she simply doesn't understand what has to happen for these two products to arrive on her table, and if she's working from moral convictions, she would presumably want to have all the information on which to base her decision?

Now you knew that anyway. I don't care as Im not vegetarian. My missus doesn't read Ph, I just want some umami in our risotto

Actually I didn't already know it. I knew that rennet was involved in the making of cheese, and that it's not vegetarian, but I didn't know precisely where it came from, and hadn't particularly connected the availability of milk with the doom of male calves, either.

It's not hypocrisy for me, as I'm a happy meat eater anyway, but I always like to learn new stuff, so it was interesting to dig into the process.