In defense of Parmesan cheese from a can

Mashable bites into a creamy, nutty, gooey, and sometimes stinky world during our first-ever Cheese Week.

One of the food world's most maligned items is powdery, canned parmesan cheese. This is understandable: Pre-grated cheese lacks the delicious complexity of actual Parmigiano Reggiano, and yes, there's the whole sawdust filler thing. We get it!

But the packaged stuff isn't all bad. In fact, just as a slice of American cheese is somehow perfect on an egg sandwich, shelf-stable Parmesan has a purpose to serve in the world. All you have to do is open your mind.

First, let's address the most obvious advantages of Parm in a can: convenience and cost. You don't need to worry about wasting the stuff like you would a fancier cheese, because it generally costs around $4 for 8 ounces. In fact, you can simply dump it on stuff -- a monumentally freeing and beautiful experience. The worst mistake you can make is accidentally using the pour side instead of the shaker side, which is not really a mistake at all.

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Enjoying some 2 a.m. drunk pasta? It's probably not the best time to break out your grater, but it is the best time to unearth that plastic container of cheese from the pantry and shake it all over your buttered spaghetti. Want your boxed mac-and-cheese to be slightly cheesier? No need to make an instant meal more complicated than it needs to be. Simply dump some cheese on there and stir. No, it's not gourmet, and yes, it's perhaps not something you should discuss in public. But will it taste good when all you want is low-stakes cheesy flavor? Yes.

Cost-effectiveness aside, there are also a number of recipes for which powdered Parm is genuinely the best choice. Consider the powdered Parm you shake onto pizza, for example. (To be fair, that is more powdery than the Kraft product.) In this role, it shines: It's salty, easy to distribute, more of a seasoning than an additional cheese. It does a job that freshly grated cheese can't do. After all, pieces of the real stuff would not only fall off the slice immediately, but would also distract from the real star: the mozzarella.

Popcorn is also made demonstrably better by powdered cheese's presence. Want cheesy popcorn? You could grate your own, but you'll be lucky if it sticks to the popcorn at all (yes, even if you use a zester). The powdered stuff coats the kernels much more effectively, especially if you put some butter on there first.

Some other uses for powdered Parm that we cannot personally attest to but that have fans on Reddit: topping garlic toast, as an ingredient in homemade cheese crackers, in a last-ditch pasta sauce. Like these online enthusiasts, we're not advocating for the green can as a permanent substitute for a real hunk of Parmigiano Reggiano, which deserves a place of honor in your fridge. Instead, we suggest keeping the powdery stuff around as a serviceable, occasional stand-in for times when using nice cheese just isn't possible.

Plus, you know those powdery, spherical cheese clumps that happen sometimes? Those are really good. We are not ashamed -- OK, only a little ashamed -- to say that we have eaten them with a spoon.