parmasen cheese

[Alvin Towriss]

How to soften very hard parmasen cheese?

[duonyte]

Once cheese is dry, it's dry. It will soften when added to other food, but you cannot soften the wedge as it is. I have some that has hardened and I just use the microplane to grate off pieces of it into soup or over other foods.

[Zeldaz]

A a sharp microplane grater should be able to handle the Parmesan, even if it's hard.

People usually freeze pieces of Parmesan rind to toss into a long-simmered soup. Part of it dissolves into the soup and adds a rich flavor. You could do the same with pieces of the hardened cheese, it you can whack it into smaller chunks.

No guarantee it will work, but you could also try wrapping it in a piece of cheesecloth or muslin which has been dampened with white vinegar or water, then sealing it up well and putting it in the fridge for a few days.