The cheese of legend

[desh]

The year I was in 12th grade, my dad was living in North Carolina. Once I went to visit him. We were going shopping, and we passed a cheese store that was offering samples. I ate one cube of whatever they were offering. It was quite good.

I didn't realize how good it was until the next day. I couldn't stop thinking about how much I enjoyed the cheese. But I had already left the state, so I couldn't go back and pick some up. In the years since, I never quite forgot about the cheese, which is amazing, because it's the only taste I have this vivid of a memory of, aside from things I eat all the time. It was very parmesan-like, but maybe not quite as hard, and though it must've been a somewhat milder taste because most cheese shops wouldn't serve cubes of parmesan as samples, I remember it being very sharp. I'm a fan of sharp cheese, and this was a rare cheese that met my sharpness standards.

About a year ago, I thought I'd found it, when rahaeli served me some pecorino pepato. It was quite good, and definitely sharp enough. But after I came home and bought my own, I realized it wasn't the same, partly because it tasted too much like parmesan, and partly because I would've remembered the peppercorns.

But today! Today Whole Foods was serving samples of a cheese I'd never tried before, or so I thought. And I'm now at least 84% sure I've found my cheese! It's called Perano, or perhaps Perrano; the internet doesn't agree on the spelling. It's like a gouda/parmesan hybrid, with nice granular consistency variations and, yes, a very sharp flavor. I had about 5 cubes off of the sample tray, and I can't wait to go buy my own wedge.

Edit: It's really called parrano. Thanks, jdcohen!

Comments

[dagoski.livejournal.com]

You should also try Salumeria at Reading Terminal for those hard to find cheeses. This the kind of place that actually has Tibetan Yak's milk cheddar.

[desh]

Whoa.

[alanscottevil.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Sounds good. Is it hechshered or otherwise certified free of animal rennet? I do enjoy a good cheese.

-Alan Scott, co-founder, "Jews for Cheezes" the facebook group.

[desh]

Unlikely, but I could check next time I go.

[alanscottevil.livejournal.com]

cool thanks!

[platypuses.livejournal.com]

Geek :-P

[desh]

Uh huh, and?

[leftyjew.livejournal.com]

Is Perano a contraction of Pecorino Romano? If so, I was just speaking that cheese's praises earlier today with my brother. Weird world.

[desh]

I think it's not, just because every picture I can find online of pecorino romano has a black rind, whereas the perano I saw had a red rind (and the rind color seems to be a standardized thing, from the little I know about cheese production). But based on the description of that one (sheep's milk, romano family), I'd like it a lot too.

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

oh, that sounds good! though it stretches my imagination to think of a gouda - parmesan hybrid; those two are so far apart in texture! i'm a much bigger fan of the gouda texture. though i love asiago, which is more towards the parmesan side.

i'm also a friend of sharp cheeses, and i don't like mine to be very hard to boot (parmesan = way too hard).

have you ever tried esrom? very different texture than either gouda or parmesan (much like havarti instead), but mmmh on the taste. very easily distinguishable from anything else.

i also have a cheese whose memory has stuck with me, and if i ever return to vermont, i am gonna hunt it down.

[jdcohen.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome - and thank you for pointing it out to me! I also had several of the cubes from the sample tray, and then opted to buy a block outright. So very delicious. And since I was at a Whole Foods in DC and you were obviously in Philly, this must be a multi-city promotion. Good stuff!

--Jeff

Same Exact Story!!

[(Anonymous)]

My story is exactly the same, except it was two days ago and I am very much in love with the cheese. Thanks!