Racconto Grated Parmesan Cheese

Racconto is a Chicago-area Italian food brand that has been in business since 1973, better known for its pasta and pantry staples. This is its grated parmesan: a hard cheese already reduced to fine, dry crumbs, ready to spoon or shake straight onto a plate with no grater involved.

Dry grated parmesan behaves differently from a wedge you grate yourself. It is finer and drier, so it scatters evenly instead of clumping, and it melts into hot food rather than sitting on top in shreds. That is why it is the version most cooks keep at the table and at the stove: over spaghetti and meat sauce, stirred into risotto at the end, dusted on garlic bread before it goes under the broiler, or worked into meatball and casserole mixtures where even distribution matters more than the look of fresh shavings.

Think of it as a weeknight cheese rather than a cheese board cheese, a finishing note for soups, roasted vegetables, buttered noodles and Caesar salads.