Pecorino Romano Puns

I just bought some Pecorino Romano for the first time and I really like it, but it seems different than pictures I’ve seen. It had many small holes in it filled with salty water, and it’s REALLY REALLY salty, like 2 or 3 times as much as feta. Is this normal?

Or do I need to find substitutes?

I want to make an authentic italian carbonara but cant find any guanciale and pecorino romano cheese. Anybody knows any meat market that sell guanciale or pancetta? Target in Fitchburg has some but thats not what im looking for. I know there is a italian market in Monona but i dont know if they sell anything there.

First off, don't take my word for granted and verify everything I post here, as the regulations I'm going to name may not apply where you reside.

So earlier I saw this post on r/EatCheapAndHealthy where the top reply to a question about vegetarian dishes was talking about pasta dishes that included Italian cheese which inspired me to make this post.

As some may know in order to make cheese you need milk and a curdling agent which separates the milk into solid curds and a liquid byproduct (whey): traditionally cheese has been made using animal rennet as a curdling agent, which poses a problem as animal rennet is harvested from the inside wall of calf stomachs during livestock butchering.

Nowadays there exists other enzymes that can be used as a substitute for curdling milk to produce cheese, such as the commonly used microbial enzymes or citric acid/vinegar for very soft cheese, however many Italian types of cheese are strictly regulated as to guarantee that their methods of production adhere to specific guidelines: the "Protected Designation of Origin" (PDO) is a rigid set of guidelines that are applied to products whose qualities are strictly related to the areas in which they are produced and as such precise methods must be followed in order to be able to sell a product under a certain name brand (e.g. Parmigiano Reggiano); among the methods specified by these guidelines for the production of traditional cheese (such as the type of cow from which the milk is harvested and the temperature at which the milk is left to rest) lies the use of a specific type of animal rennet as a curdling agent for the production of that particular cheese: products that stray from these regulations (including the use of animal rennet) and are sold under the name brand whose regulations they don't respect are considered counterfeit.

I picked parmigiano and pecorino as the poster children for this post's title but this applies to most Italian cheese, such as grana padano and gorgonzola among others, which specify that the rennet used must come from a specific livestock (commonly calves or lambs).

Even other cheese not exported from Italy may be produced using animal rennet instead of other curdling agents, especially hard cheese such as cheddar. Check the ingredients whenever you purchase any kind of cheese and assume that just "rennet" with no specification come