Posts Tagged ‘cheese’
06/27/2018
June 27, 2018
If only there was a pint of Guinness and some crackers sitting on the table along with this. Sigh! As the name suggests this cheese has its roots in Ireland. Dublin is its namesake.
The web site says this has characteristics of a Cheddar with hints of Parmesan. I can buy that, even if I didn’t exactly have the same impression. The first takeaway is, the flavor of this cheese is a little different. That adds a little mystery and conversation as you and any others partaking of the cheese discuss your own interpretations. My interpretation of the flavor is a cross between a Cheddar and an aged Gouda. The second takeaway is, this is a nice cheese.
The cheese is firm and slices nicely. Because it’s sold in nice rectangular blocks, it’s easy to divide into cubes for a cheese tray. While it’s an aged cheese (
over 12 months according to Wiki), I did not find any cheese crystals making this also a very smooth cheese. It melts nicely. I used some of it as a three cheese combination in a grilled cheese sandwich. It added a little flavor pop over a straight American cheese grilled sandwich. In the fine print on the label are the words, “suitable for vegetarians.” That takes the guesswork out the equation when you try to figure out whether the cheese is vegetarian friendly. As it’s not an exclusive at Trader Joe’s, it’s likely you can find it at a different store near you if you don’t have a Trader Joe’s close by.
Price $7.99 per pound Calories 110 per ounce (28g)
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Tags:calories, cheese, dubliner, food, kerrygold, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's, vegetarian
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's, Vegetarian | 4 Comments »
05/07/2018
May 7, 2018
A little bit of mold later and I’m still alive. Some scrapping with a knife took care of the mold before the actual tasting. That’s one of the problems with storing cut cheese. Even in a cold refrigerator, it can get a little moldy on the outside. Of course I was 3 weeks past the “sell by date” on the cheese before I got around to digging this out of the depths of my refrigerator for review. In the future I’m just going to have to eat faster.
Semi-hard or semi-soft, you decide that. The consistency is close to an American cheese. There’s a nice flavor to the cheese, produced by the cheese and the caramelized onions and chives added to the cheese. Overall, this is a mild cheese with a good flavor. The cheese is not quite spreadable, but soft enough to stay on a cracker. The cheese nicely paired with some wine for part of the review.
The cheese melted easily in the microwave. The warming also enhanced the flavor. In fact, the best use may be as a topping to vegetables or a burger. Just add the cheese near the end of cooking. The cheese also did nicely in a grilled cheese sandwich, producing a mildly stepped-up experience from the traditional American cheese.
If you’d like to find out how the cheese gets its name, click here.
Price $9.99 per pound Calories 110 per ounce (28g)
For a similar and more flavorful cheese, you may also want to try Trader’s caramelized onion cheddar.
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Tags:calories, cheese, cotswold double gloucester, food, nutrition, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | Leave a Comment »
03/31/2018
March 31, 2018
The heat takes a few seconds to kick in, and then builds for the next few minutes. This is going to be a little more heat than some people like. For heat lovers, it’s not a “call the fire department” kind of heat. Along with the heat comes the flavor of the ghost pepper, which is very earthy. Try a little paprika straight out of the spice jar on your tongue to get an idea of the earthy taste. That’s another thing some people may not like. It is a different flavor.
While all the TJ flavored cheddar combinations reviewed so far, e.g., caramelized onion cheddar, have been more than good, this one doesn’t work for me. The combination of the cheddar, and both the heat and flavor from the ghost pepper just doesn’t work well together. Aside from the ghost pepper overwhelming the cheese, the flavors just aren’t complementary. Perhaps as a topping for a burger, this may work better.
Price $7.99 per pound Calories 110 per ounce (28g)
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Tags:calories, cheddar, cheese, food, ghost pepper, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 1 Comment »
03/27/2018
March 27, 2018
This is a “vegetarian friendly”, certified organic, aged, sharp cheddar cheese. The texture of the cheese is firm, not hard, and not crumbly. There’s a touch of a non-cheddar flavor in the cheese. Regardless, this is a nice cheddar cheese, especially for someone looking for an organic cheese. Calories 110 per ounce, price $5.99 per pound
Roth cheeses can be found at other supermarkets also, click here to search near you.
One of my pet peeves about cheese labeling is the ambiguous references to “enzymes” in the labeling. Some enzymes (a minority now) come from animals – making them non-vegetarian. Animal enzymes are sometimes labeled as rennet (although even the word rennet can be used ambiguously). Other enzymes (many cheeses use these) are produced by bacterial cultures or are plant-based, and are vegetarian friendly. By not clearly labeling the type of enzymes used in making the cheese, the cheese makers make it more difficult for vegetarians to find cheeses which suit their dietary preferences. Even this one which is labeled “vegetarian friendly” – and I assume that means non-animal enzymes – doesn’t mention the source of the enzymes in the ingredient label. Here’s some additional reading.
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Tags:calories, cheese, food, nutrition, organic, price, review, reviews, roth cheese, sharp cheddar, trader joe's, vegetarian
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's, Vegetarian | 4 Comments »
02/09/2018
February 9, 2018
This is a nice cheese, a blend of parmesan and cheddar implied by the label. This cheese is mild with a gentle nutty sweet flavor. The texture is medium firm, and definitely not hard. The Syrah wine soak doesn’t add much to the flavor, but puts a pretty purple coating on the outside. The cheese slices nicely and is not crumbly. This is suitable for a cheese tray if you don’t mind some odd-shaped pieces as the cheese is sold as a wedge.
Now the interesting thing about using this on a cheese tray could be watching people try to decide if that purple coating on the outside is edible, or not. I’m not saying.
price $9.99 per pound calories, 120 per ounce (28g)
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Tags:calories, cheese, food, nutrition, review, reviews, syrah, tj, tj's, toscano, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 5 Comments »
01/12/2018
January 12, 2018
For a 4-year-old cheese, this cheese is surprisingly soft, but still firm. There is little crumbling when cut. There are no obvious crystals visible in the cheese. However once in the mouth some very fine crystals can be detected crunching between the teeth. Crystals form as the cheese ages.
This is a very tasty cheddar with a nice and noticeable amount of natural sharpness. The sharpness lingers on the back of the tongue long after the cheese has left the mouth. A little cheese goes a long way. Unlike some other cheddars, the word sharp on the label has real meaning. Some people may find this too sharp. Without doing a side by side comparison, this is the best cheddar at TJ I’ve reviewed so far.
Calories 120 per ounce, price $8.99 per pound
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Tags:black diamond mature reserve cheddar, calories, cheese, extra-sharp-cheddar, food, nutrition, price, review, reviews, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | Leave a Comment »
01/07/2018
January 7, 2018
Recently reviewed here was a Trader Joe’s Parmesan cheese. That was found to be okay, but nothing very special. Today, reviewed is a Parmigiano Reggiano Stravecchio cheese imported from Italy by Trader Joe’s. The first question is, what is stravecchio? Stravecchio simply means; old, mature or extra aging. This cheese is aged for 36 months, or 3 years, depending on how you count time.
In comparison to the previously reviewed TJ Parmesan cheese, this cheese is still hard, but easier to cut because it tends to crumble somewhat. As for flavor, there’s no comparison. This cheese is tons more flavorful and complex. There’s some nuttiness to the flavor but also hints of sweetness contained in an earthy base.
This is a very nice cheese to snack on. It would be difficult to use this for a cheese tray, as it does not cut well into nicely shaped cubes due to its crumbly nature. For cooking and sprinkling on salads, I still prefer the inexpensive everyday grated cheeses in the plastic containers. At $14.99 a pound, this is a cheese that really needs to be savored by itself, rather than diluted with other food. And when it is savored by itself, it’s a savoring experience.
Price $14.99 per pound Calories, 110 per ounce (28g)
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Tags:calories, cheese, food, nutrition, parmigiano reggiano stravecchio, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 10 Comments »
01/07/2018
January 7, 2018
This is a very nice cheese with a very good flavor. The cheese is sharp, but I wouldn’t call it extra sharp as the label does. The cheese is nicely aged to a crumbly consistency. The cheese should be good for cooking as it melted nicely with a quick microwave test. Per the label, the cheese is produced by a farmer’s cooperative, which is nice to know in this age of mega-scale industrial food production. As a domestic cheese from the Northeast, it’s reasonably priced to boot.
Price $6.99 per pound Calories 110 per ounce (28g)
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Tags:cabot, calories, cheddar, cheese, extra sharp cheddar cheese, food, nutrition, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 11 Comments »
12/20/2017
December 20, 2017
Make no mistake about it, this is a hard cheese. Grating it can be a grating experience.
For me, this is a cheese better eaten by itself than used in recipes. As noted above, the cheese is hard and will give both your knife and jaw a workout. The cheese has a nice, but mild, parmesan flavor to it. A glass of wine is a nice accompaniment.
Surprisingly, as a grated cheese, I actually prefer the pre-grated sprinkle on stuff. Not only is the pre-grated cheese easier to use, but it has more flavor pop than this cheese. The cheese was used as a topping to flavor pastas and salads for this review.
Now, if you’re trying to impress your significant other with a home cooked meal as Billy Joel’s Italian Restaurant plays in the background, grating this at the table is the way to go. And as above, an extra bottle of red is a nice accompaniment.
price $5.99 per pound calories, 110 per ounce (28g)
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Tags:cheese, food, parmesan cheese, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 4 Comments »
11/17/2017
November 17, 2017
Unexpected? You bet it was unexpected. After months of searching for this on the top shelf where all the other Cheddars live, I found this in with the Bries, Camemberts and who knows what else.
TJ says there’s a touch of Parmesan in the taste which makes this Cheddar unexpected. By my taste buds, I didn’t detect any Parmesan. And also by my taste buds, this doesn’t really taste like other Cheddars. But the taste of this cheese is very nice, having a touch of tanginess mixed with a touch of sweetness. The texture is similar to other TJ cheese blends, firm but tends to crumble when cutting. That’s not a negative, just an observation. In the mouth, there are a few bits of what seem like cheese crystals characteristic of an aged cheese. Whatever the blend of cheeses here, or whatever the process that went into making this, this is a nice cheese, perfect for enjoying by itself or even better with a glass of wine.
Price $3.99 per 7 ounce package
Calories 120 per ounce
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Tags:calories, cheese, food, nutrition, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's, unexpected cheddar
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 6 Comments »
June 27, 2018
