Cheese with little bits of salt in

Cafe Society
1

The other day I was visiting someone’s home, and one of the refreshments they served consisted in a sharp, dry, flaky cheese.

I don’t know cheese from cheese, but I’m pretty sure this was either Parmesan or Romano cheese.

But the interesting thing about it was it had little tiny crunchy bits in it, which I’m pretty sure were just grains of salt.

In fact, I liked it. I liked it a lot.

But I never got a chance to ask what kind it was. So now I would like to know, is there some particular kind of cheese which has grains of salt in it like this?

-FrL-

2

Sounds like Parmesano Reggiano to me.

3

From Cook’s Illustrated’s guide to shopping for parmesan:

And yeah, them’s good eatin’.

4

That must be it! Thanks!

To Trader Joe’s with me!

-FrL-

5

It’s a characteristic of several hard, aged cheeses, including some cheddars. It’s not salt, though. Someone mentioned what it was in a cheese thread from the last couple of weeks.

Here’s one explanation, with bonus cheese babe included:

http://cheesaholics.blogs.com/cheesaholics_anonymous/2006/07/crystal_energy.html

6

one finds the crunchy bits of protein in a well-aged cheddar too. Yum.

7

Saenkanter Gouda also has these crystals. It’s great great stuff.

8

Mmmm, at this very moment I’m eating a chunk of Parano with crunchy bits in it…