The price of one variety of cheese is expected to skyrocket by April, but it's not out of control just yet.  That's good news for your Valentine's charcuterie board.  

Parmesan cheese is about to get a whole lot more expensive.

We all started cooking more at home last year during the pandemic and stocking up on shelf-stable items, and cans of parmesan cheese were one of the products to fly off the shelves, along with the entire pasta aisle, really.

Whether you like the fancier shredded kind in the refrigerated section, or you grab the soft plastic cans next to the spaghetti sauce in the pasta aisle, the demand for parmesan is putting stress on the supply, and the aging process complicates things.  It takes ten months for parmesan to age and finally reach grocery stores, and since it's been about ten or eleven months since the mass grocery-buying of 2020, well, we can do the math.  Parm supplies are running short.

Parmesan that was made in March, April, and May 2020 is starting to hit shelves, and experts predict that parmesan prices will shoot up dramatically by April 2021, and prices will stay up for six months or so.  I'm reading that the cost to create parmesan went up 40 to 60% in some cases, and that will mean an increase of $1.50 to $2.00 per pound.

Your romantic charcuterie board for Valentine's Day won't be crazy expensive--just regular expensive.  But adding aged parmesan to the meat and cheese board in April will cost more.

Parm ends up on pizza, in pasta, on charcuterie boards, and in recipes for appetizers that were probably part of your football buffet on Sunday.  It's a regular at my house too, showing up at least twice a week in something.  Dang all the little price increases!

If the price of pizza goes up in April too, we'll know why.

LOOK: Here are copycat recipes from 20 of the most popular fast food restaurants in America

More From Classic Rock Q107