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SMART SHOPPING: Parmesan Cheese

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Genuine Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese offers a buttery, nutty taste and crystalline crunch. Produced for the past 800 years in northern Italy using traditional methods, this hard cow’s-milk cheese has a distinctive flavor, but it comes at a steep price. Our top-rated brand, chosen from a lineup of supermarket cheeses, is Boar’s Head Parmigiano-Reggiano; this Italian import costs about $18 per pound, and our tasters say it offers a “good crunch” and “nice tangy, nutty” flavor. For a more affordable option, they also liked BelGioioso Parmesan, which costs about half the price.