I like Parmesan cheese when it comes in a wedge and I grate it myself but the stuff Kraft makes in the big green cans or the stuff they put on tables in Italian restaurants literally tastes like vomit to me. Why is there such a big difference in taste? Or is it just me?
Well, like a lot of things, shelf-stable options (such as the green cans or most cheaper Italian places) isn’t just Parm - according to prior class action lawsuits (some googling, but haven’t done a deep dive) the Kraft Stuff was 3.8% (!) cellulose as an anti clumping agent. It’s also barely aged at all by Parm standards, and I suspect a lot of the “off” flavors you’re tasting comes from oxidation after exposure to oxygen. Top that with keeping them in possibly over-humid kitchens where they can much more easily get funky/rancid and the duration they’re kept… and it’s probably no surprise.
Parmesan Cheese (Pasteurized Part-Skim Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes), Cellulose Powder, Potassium Sorbate To Protect Flavor.
(notice, because of a prior class action lawsuit, it doesn’t advertise as 100% Parmesan Cheese anymore)
Got Ninjaed.
I loved that green can of “parmesan” when I was a kid. Now? 
As someone who likes a lot of Parmesan cheese on pasta, I have been convinced for quite some time that the Kraft stuff in green cans is not any kind of cheese at all but actually sawdust picked up from sawmills.
I don’t always freshly grate my own Parmesan as I suppose I should, but the pre-grated Parmesan I buy is a specific brand of imported Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano available at a local Italian deli. I dislike the pre-grated so-called “Parmesan” sold by most supermarkets. But the unrefrigerated Kraft stuff in the green can is in a class of its own and is, as I said, basically sawdust.
I actually like the Kraft grated stuff for certain purposes (like over hot popcorn) but despite the label, I don’t even think of it as Parmesan. I always just called it snow cheese, that might be a regional thing.
I buy little bags of shaved parmesan in the deli section of the supermarket, it’s convenient. That’s what I use on most things, but I use snow cheese on popcorn…and sometimes I use it, along with butter, to resurrect plain leftover pasta.
If you buy good quality grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, you’ll find that it lasts for months in the fridge (much longer than the “best-by” date) and also that it freezes well. I always have a container in the freezer for fear of running out. Freezing may cause some minor clumping because of the moisture but that’s easily rectified with a spoon.
As for the Kraft “Parmesan”, Kraft products aren’t all terrible by any means – I use their cheese slices to make cheeseburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches – but the “Parmesan” in the green can is an affront both to humanity and to the canine population, unfit for humans, dogs, or wolves! 
I always said it smelled like dirty socks.
Perhaps an Italian wore them.
I’ve never worked in an Italian restaurant but I’ve always assumed that the stuff they putt on the table in those oddly shaped jars next to the pepper flakes, and possibly garlic salt was basically the green can vile of nasty stuff. Is this correct or is it better than the sawdust sock smelling vomit “cheese”?
I would assume it depends on the quality of the restaurant, but cheap New York-style pizza by the slice (thin soft crust, light schmear of sauce, full-fat mozzarella, slices that hang off the edge of a paper plate and easily fold in half) is the ideal use for canned parm.
I’ve lost track of how many times, though, that I’ve grabbed a slice at my favorite downtown pizzeria, tried to put parm on it, and grabbed the garlic powder instead. That’s an easy way to ruin a $5 slice of pizza in 2 seconds.
Ha! Yes, a friend of mine used to call it, “sweaty sock cheese.”
…Roquefort?
A small test shake to see what comes out and how fast is a good habit to build.
Here in humid SoFl restaurant salt shakers (and even pepper shakers) are a real trap. A vigorous upsidedown shake might get you a grain of salt, or a teaspoon of salt. Pretty much everyone shakes that first shake into their open palm to judge the flow rate.
Stores here sell various kinds of Parmesan-Reggiano combinations by weight in little plastic deli containers. I keep mine in the freezer, to my dismay I had some that got moldy in the refrigerator.
Huh, and all this time I thought that Kraft mixed type of grated cheese was perfectly fine on pasta.
Now I may have to try the connoisseur kind to see what if anything I’ve been missing.
It is perfectly fine if that’s what you like.
Don’t frou frou up your pasta vibe unless you just wanna.
I occasionally use canned parmesan over popcorn or roast chicken and potatoes. The fresh stuff is much better. I also occasionally buy “Parmesan rinds” the blocks of cheese came in, which are very cheap but adds a strong and pleasant flavour to strews or sauce.
Is this even cheese?
It’s snow cheese.
It’s not cheese?
It’s snot cheese.
That’s the package as a whole. As I understand it, that means grated cheese with some kind of powder added that absorbs moisture and keeps it from sticking together, not an actual ingredient of the cheese itself. I imagine nutritionally, it’s just more dietary fiber.
As to why the canned stuff is so bad… I’d wager it’s 60% because it’s Kraft “parmesan” that they grate and put in the cans, while what you buy at the store is considerably higher quality. I’d bet the other 40% is probably the fact that it’s kept in cans at room temperature for extended periods. While it’s not unsafe, it’s certainly far from ideal storage conditions.
At our local Italian shop, they sell “Domestic Parmesan” pre-grated, and it’s light-years better than the Kraft stuff, even though I suspect they both start with very similar cheese to start with. The difference is that my local place grates it every few days at most, while that Kraft stuff might have been grated months ago, sat in an indifferently climate controlled warehouse for a while, then sitting on the shelf in the lights at a grocery store for who knows how long.
I