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Parmesan doesn't have to be refrigerated; It's a hard cheese, so it only has to remain dry.
I've been told different, and have seen different in the grocery store... If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Keeping in mind, however, that block parmesan isn't "dry" like the pre-grated ones. Low-moisture content, yes, but it still isn't dry. If your room temperature is somewhere in the 50's, then yes, it can probably sit out on the shelf. However, if it's 75, I doubt it would be safe to leave it sitting out for prolonged periods of time.
Alarming are all food imitations... like plastic cheese (American, Velveeta), Miracle Whip, fake blueberries (in pancakes, muffins), bacon bits, margarine, coffee creams, etc...etc...
It is funny you would refer to cheeses like Velveeta and some American cheese as plastic: spoiled brat for years has called them just that: plastic!!!!! And of course I agree with on the fake being alarming, but I also don't think it is going to kill us consuming a little "fake" stuff. I am sure, most of us do on a daily basis.
when I was in HS/College I dated a few Italian Girls (I live in Trenton NJ, large Italian population)
Used to get invited over for Sunday dinners...usually an antipasto, Braciola, meatballs in 'gravy' #9 thin spaghetti or Rigatonis pencil points. There was always a nice wedge of Reggiano parmesean on the table with a hand grater...
I remember remarking to the girls parents how much I loved the cheese and the closet thing we had to it at my parents house was the green Krafts container...
The girls father, closed his thumbs over his index fingers, brought both hands up to his chest, moved them vigorously up and down and stated emphatically;
'Hey...we don't use no 'Shake cheese' around this House!'
Cellulose is a safe additive, and an acceptable level is 2 percent to 4 percent, according to Dean Sommer, a cheese technologist at the Center for Dairy Research in Madison, Wisconsin.
Cheese (And virtually all dairy products) needs to be refrigerated. The mere fact that "Parmesan" at the grocery store is not in a refrigerated section is enough for me to know it's not "real" cheese.
You didn't know that cheese is made precisely because it doesn't spoil?
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Parmesan has been made for almost a thousand years - long before refrigerators came about.
