Danks Street Depot believes in food education.  Each month we are giving you the opportunity to expand your culinary repertoire and ask a chef a question.  Each month we will choose a selection of questions to answer and present them on this page.
Email askthechef@danksstreetdepot.com.au        

Hi Jared,

"Love the real Parmesan style cheese sold as a block from good delis.  However over time this becomes increasingly more difficult to grate as it tends to harden up quickly.  Any suggestions apart from grating up the whole thing & freezing it?"

Thank you ,
(love your restaurant!),
Cheers,

Cathy
                                                                                                                                                                    

Hi Cathy,

It is tragic when your beautiful piece of Parmesan becomes hard and oily and what is even more tragic is having to grate it and freeze it, since Parmesan is absolutely delicious when placed on the table in a big chunk and freshly grated or broken onto your plate.  Grating it all also means that you cannot enjoy it as a table cheese all broken into chunks and served with figs, rocket and drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. 
In England, Samuel Peyps hastily buried his Parmesan to save it from the Great Fire of London but I don't suggest this technique as a modern day method of storage, it would be too difficult to use on a regular basis if you had to dig it up from the backyard each time you wanted to use it.  So fortunately there are some very useful tips for storing your Parmesan. 
Firstly, Parmesan needs to breath while still being airtight, if you wrap it tightly in cling wrap you may cause the oil to separate out of the cheese and it could get moldy.  I use some wax paper to allow it to breathe and then a layer of foil or cling wrap.  The next best place to store your Parmesan rather than burying it, is in a damp cool cellar.  Failing this option, the fridge is always best.  Try to keep it in the warmest area of your fridge, such as the door or bottom of the vegetable crisper.  The Parmesan Cheese Co. suggests that when you take your Parmesan out to use, leave what you don't use out for about 15 minutes, any moisture that has been drawn out will be reabsorbed, which keeps the cheese soft and prevents mould on the surface.
If you have any hard pieces of Parmesan or Parmesan rinds still hanging around, then don't despair, use them to make Parmesan olive oil, simply by placing the Parmesan into a jar and covering it with olive oil.  The longer that you keep this the better it tastes but you could start using it within a week or two.

Happy cooking!

Jared