TASTES: Parrano

By Kara and Erica

True to our word, we found some Parrano to taste! See our recent post on the background of "the Dutch cheese with an Italian accent" here.

Before we discuss the taste of Parrano, a quick note on this picture: this mostly-sepia tone image of Parrano in its (?) natural environment presently takes up 80% of the German Parrano homepage (similar images seem to cycle through the English, Dutch, French, German, and Spanish sites unpredictably). Other shots feature a cityscape and an overturned glass, and a long-exposure image of a wine glass tipping and a man struggling to catch it. Caution: Parrano appears to induce eerie happenings at the dinner table.

The Taste: Descriptions of Parrano as a hybrid of Parmesan and Gouda are ubiquitous, and accurate. We also detected a strong resemblance to Swiss cheese, both in flavor (nutty, sweet) and in texture (medium in firmness, holey). On first taste, we liked this pleasing flavor combination and the toothsome feeling of the cheese in the mouth. The cheese is very flavorful, without a hint of anything off-putting or overly complex - a definite crowd-pleaser. The major downside of Parrano is the rind: made of several layers of wax, it feels sticky and (understandably) waxy, and imparts a bland plastic flavor to the outer edges of the cheese. We're pretty positive in the first few minutes of tasting and talking (see the video below), but it should be noted that our opinion of Parrano started shifting as we became aware of the rind problem, and continued to decline after we stopped shooting and became aware of a sort of sweet, processed aftertaste. On the other hand, a second, informal tasting of Parrano by Kara - in the context of a turkey and lettuce sandwich - highlighted Parrano's strength as a sandwich cheese. We probably wouldn't serve it on a cheese plate, but Kara at least is curious to try it in an omelette or over a salad.

FACTS: To wash or not to wash

By Erica

Have you ever wondered what determines what a cheese's rind is like? I always thought it had something to do with bacteria, and it does-- if you let cheese age on a shelf with a certain bacteria strain, the bacteria will grow on the outside of the cheese. The longer you let the cheese age, the thicker the rind will become.

But, of course, it's more complicated than that. If there's anything I've learned about cheese, it's that there's always more to learn about cheese. Another factor that contributes to rind differences (and this I learned from Felix of Capri Cheesery) is whether or not you wash the rind. Washing a rind is just what it sounds like-- as the cheese ages, you periodically bathe the cheese in a liquid, usually a brine or alcohol. This process infuses the cheese with more flavor from the rind and thus causes the cheese to become more pungent. Most softer stinky cheeses have washed rinds. The washed rind, however, remains distinct and more bitter than the cheese.

Here's a buying tip: if you're after a cheese with a thicker rind, look for one that has a distinct boundary between the rind and the cheese-- if there's a gradient of discoloration near the rind, then the bitterness of the rind has infused into the cheese, which is less than desirable.

(Pictured: Taleggio is an example of a washed rind cheese)