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My friend planted three rows of basil in his garden to make pesto, and now we need to source roughly 25-50lbs of parmesan. With that kind of quantity, cheaper is better.

BobMcGee
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spiffytech
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5 Answers5

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The price of genuine-sealed-and-certified parmagiano reggiano is quite high and fairly consistent, especially for more aged varieties. I think your best bet to save money will be to use a similar parmagiano reggiano cousin, such as grana padano, romano, or a quality Argentinian reggianito. As a second-tier approach, you might look at domestic Parmesan, but use caution as it may not have the same quality as a one of the Italian imports.

As for genuine Parmesan: you're buying at least a couple hundred dollars of cheese, and this gives you some bargaining power. Buy or ask to taste a small sample of whatever you're considering, and try to negotiate; managers may be willing to offer you a bulk discount. I'd gather a couple quotes from cheese shops, try prices at your local Costco/Sam's Club, and talk to the upscale grocery stores in your area.

As far as pricing goes, I've seen genuine-seal-and-everything Parmagiano Reggiano on sale at about $12-13/lbs at my local Southern Season. I generally expect to pay $18-22/lbs at upscale grocery stores for Parmesan, with remarkably little variation between stores. Your standard grocery stores tend to sell small blocks of inferior-quality and freshness Parmesan for similar prices.

In contrast, grana padano runs around $12-13/lbs on average at my local Trader Joe's, and might be available for under $10/lbs with a good sale. I usually buy blocks of that for general cooking use, as it is close enough in taste and much cheaper.

BobMcGee
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    I would also add that Pecorino Romano is usually cheaper than Parmigiano Reggiano and is traditionally included in pesto along with it (the traditional cheese is actually *Fiore Sardo*, which is also made with sheep milk, but that is very difficult to find outside of Italy). – nico Jul 08 '11 at 06:32
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    It should be noted that although domestic (*i.e.*, US-made) paremsan-style cheese can be much cheaper than the "real" stuff, [a recent Cooks Illustrated taste test](http://bit.ly/ohqIjy) concluded that real Parmigiano-Reggiano is far superior. A panel of blind taste testers could easily pick out the real cheese; the domestic versions had very different textures and were described as "rubbery, salty, and bland." – ESultanik Jul 08 '11 at 14:09
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    @ESultanik: That cook's illustrated taste test isn't by any means comprehensive, given the variety of cheese producers. A high-quality domestic may be acceptable for this use, although I'd much sooner use grana padano. I think you'd have to compare a couple, and stay away from the cheap grocery store "grated Parmesan." (I use quotes, because the connection between that and real reggiano is tenuous at best). – BobMcGee Jul 08 '11 at 16:47
  • @BobMcGee: True, they did only compare cheeses from six different domestic producers. – ESultanik Jul 11 '11 at 12:01
  • Updated [Cook's Illustrated Taste Test](https://www.cooksillustrated.com/taste_tests/1695-supermarket-parmesan?incode=MCSCD00L0&ref=new_search_experience_1) article. – chronometric May 18 '17 at 17:24
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Costco has good quality, large chunks of parmesan for a lot cheaper than grocery stores.

AaronN
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  • I can't find a quote anywhere on their site. What's the price like at your local Costco? – BobMcGee Jul 08 '11 at 06:48
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    It's been a long time since I had to buy a chunk, but I think it's somewhere in the 9-10 dollars/pound range. For comparison my local supermarket price is around 16 dollars/pound. – AaronN Jul 08 '11 at 15:55
  • True. Costco is generally good value when it comes to cheese.. – Manfred Moser Sep 06 '11 at 17:34
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Well, it's not first frost yet in most areas, so you might still have time on this --

I'd ask your local Italian restaurants where they get their cheese from. Odds are, they're not paying the grocery store $15-20/lb prices.

In my area, there's Restaurant Depot, which sells Parmagiano Reggiano cheaper than some of the regular grocery stores sell other cheaper varieties. The thing is, they sell it in chunks about 1/8 of a wheel or larger if I recall correctly (which is about 10lb a chunk ... maybe they had 5lb chunks, but I don't think it was smaller than that), and they'll only give membership cards to people who can prove they have a business or a non-profit ... but it's possible that a restaurant who already has a good source might be willing to resell some to you.

Joe
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We find good values at our local ethnic market -- specifically, in my case, Phonecia Specialty Foods in Houston, TX. They have no problems selling in bulk by the wheel.

Karl Katzke
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This is just plain silly! You can get grated domestic parmesan at ca 4.14/lb in bulk foods section of WINCO supermarkets. Plenty of flavor, particularly if making pesto

phil katz
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