Posts Tagged ‘cheese’
10/29/2017
October 29, 2017
For a not-cheese, this is not bad. It has a neutral taste and a thicker texture than a real mozzarella. While the product name stresses the soy content, it also contains milk protein and milk as parmesan cheese according to the label. The label does not specify what kind of enzymes were used for the parmesan. While mozzarella is a mild cheese, it still has a better taste and texture than this alternative.
On heating in the microwave, the aroma of parmesan is liberally released. It smells good. However the melted “cheese” does not retain the taste of parmesan. This cheese also does not melt as nicely as mozzarella in the microwave. It becomes somewhat puffy and hardens. There’s none of that stringy mozzarella texture. The cheese was not tested in stove top or oven recipes. When diced up for some salad, it added some texture to the salad, but not much in the way of flavor.
With milk as one of the ingredients and an unknown source for the parmesan enzymes (some enzymes are animal based), what’s the purpose of the cheese? For people who might be allergic to milk, it contains some milk components. For those looking for a vegetarian cheese, it’s not labeled as vegetarian. The cheese is labeled as 99% lactose free. So I guess for people who are extremely lactose intolerant, this may be an alternative. However many milk-based cheeses are naturally relatively low in lactose. So for those who can tolerate some lactose, a milk-based cheese may work for you also. Regardless, only you know what kinds of food you need to avoid or what foods work well for you. And of course, only you know what foods you like!
Calories 70 per ounce, price $1.99 (8 ounce package)
Tags:calories, cheese, food, mozzarella, nutrition, price, review, reviews, soy-based cheese, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 2 Comments »
10/16/2017
October 16, 2017
A cheddar with hints of an aged Gouda? This is a fine tasting, slightly crumbly, but still creamy in the mouth, cheese. While the length of aging of this cheese is not specified on the label, it’s just on the verge of developing those cheese crystals like an aged Gouda. This is a “mature” tasting cheddar, meaning it’s not a mild cheddar. But it’s also not a sharp cheddar. It’s an extremely nice and enjoyable cheese.
Collier’s refers to Welsh miners, called Colliers (think “coal ers”). The miners used to take this cheese down in the mines for lunch. And for an interesting movie, based on real events in 1984, explaining how these same miners found common cause with a seemingly unlikely group, try Pride (2014) while you snack on the cheese.
Price $7.99 per pound Calories 120 per ounce (28g)
Tags:calories, cheddar, cheese, Colliers Welsh, food, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 3 Comments »
09/23/2017
September 23, 2017
I didn’t know cheese ate grass? This is a grass-fed sharp cheddar cheese from New Zealand.
While the package says aged 6-12 months, I suspect my package was aged at the low-end of this range. The cheddar was not very sharp at all. The cheese was dense and semi-soft with no crumbling while being cut. There was a mild cheddar flavor and sharpness to the cheese.
At $6 per pound this is a good cheese, but nothing special. The price is right for using this as you would any other mild cheddar that fills the refrigerator cases in most supermarkets. But the good news is, once it’s wrapped for sale, it no longer needs to be fed grass!
Price $5.99 per pound Calories 120 per ounce.
Tags:calories, cheese, food, new zealand, nutrition, price, review, reviews, sharp cheddar, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 2 Comments »
09/06/2017
September 6, 2017
Looking for love in all the wrong places. Yep, just like the song says, that’s what I was doing. But wait, no, no, no, not that kind of love. And, . . . not that kind of love either. I was looking for the love of a sharp cheddar. Don’t anyone urban dictionary that. And if you do, don’t tell me what it means. Please don’t.
This cheese is a mixture of English aged cheddar and sriracha sauce. And that aging of at least 8 months, according to the label, is one of the factors that helps produce sharpness in a cheddar. But the sriracha is the thing that puts this over the top. Here the addition of sriracha is more than a marketing gimmick. The sriracha is actually noticeable and good. Mixing in the sriracha sauce gives the cheese a looser, more crumbly, texture. There’s a nice contrast between the noticeable, but still not extreme, hotness of the sriracha and the smooth creamy feel of the cheese as it warms in the mouth. As those two factors meld together, the sriracha starts to take over producing a sharp finish as it all exits the mouth and starts down the throat. It’s a different kind of sharpness than a 100% cheddar. Still, it’s a nice flavor and experience.
This is the third or fourth cheddar mixture I’ve tried at Trader Joe’s. All of them, including this one, have been winners.
Price $8.99 per pound Calories 100 per ounce
Tags:calories, cheese, food, price, review, reviews, sharp cheddar, sriracha english cheddar, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | Leave a Comment »
07/26/2017
July 26, 2017
Trade wars be damned, this is some really good cheese. So before the great northern wall is built, get some of this. If not, you’ll be making trips up to the wall under cover of darkness to catch packages of cheese wrapped in duct tape being thrown over. Or Monty Python might be channeled catapulting whole cows north to south, the cheese curdling and aging in flight. Don’t worry Canada, the cows will be quickly deported! Street graffiti artists, please hold your enthusiasm.
Wisconsin cheeseheads stand on guard (oops!). There’s some real competition coming south. Have the secret cheese recipes been hacked? Stop any bulls going north. That lovely smiling red-headed heifer waving her tail over the border is a trap. Keep the DNA in the USA!
And how is the cheese itself? It’s perhaps the best pure cheddar in the TJ refrigerator case. It has a great taste and mouthfeel. It’s sharp, but not pointy. It’s just on the verge of being crumbly. A few Gouda-like cheese crystals are spread throughout. Or maybe that was one of my fillings starting to break up? According to the label it’s aged two years. That two-year aging accounts for all the good stuff in the cheese. It’s also how often my dentist keeps refilling that tooth. Hmmm?
Calories 120 per ounce, price $8.99 per pound
Heifer photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, here. Author: Black Angus Girl
Tags:calories, Canadian cheese, cheese, extra-sharp-cheddar, food, nutrition, parody, price, review, reviews, satire, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 3 Comments »
07/10/2017
July 10, 2017
This was a much better experience than the last Trader Joe’s brie I tried. This brie had a much firmer, but still soft, texture. It was sliceable and didn’t run off the knife. The taste was mild with a touch of tartness. Overall the taste was a pleasant experience. The texture was melt-in-the-mouth. There was a kind of velvety mouth feel to the cheese.
For the lovers of stronger cheeses, you won’t be offended by this, but you also may not be satisfied. For the brie lovers out there, this is probably a winner.
Price $5.99 per pound
Calories 100 per ounce
If you’re looking for double plus one creamy brie,
try here.
Tags:brie, calories, cheese, double cream brie, food, nutrition, price, review, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 2 Comments »
05/08/2017
May 8, 2017
The aroma and flavor are pleasantly smokey, reminiscent of a barbecue. The cheese is semi-soft to cut and creamy in the mouth. The smoke flavor is a nice contrast to the texture of the cheese. For $4.99 a pound this is a nicely flavored smoked cheese from Holland. If you’re in need of a smoked cheese and in or nearby a Trader Joe’s, this is a good and surprisingly economical choice.
Price $4.99 per pound Calories 90 per ounce (28g)
Tags:calories, cheese, Dutch, food, nutrition, price, review, reviews, smoked cheese, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 7 Comments »
05/08/2017
May 8, 2017
The second ingredient is cream. That’s a good sign as that’s what an Alfredo sauce is all about. From the jar the sauce is a little watery, as water is the first ingredient. However it thickens some when added to warm pasta. Even better is heating the sauce either before the pasta is added or after the pasta is added. To save a pot, and some cleaning, I added sauce straight from the jar to the cooked warm pasta and then nuked the plate in the microwave for about a minute. That thickened up the sauce and made it stick to the pasta nicely. There’s a suggestion on the jar which hints at the need for heating the sauce to thicken.
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Tags:aldi, alfredo sauce, calories, cheese, food, italian, nutrition, priano, price, review
Posted in ALDI, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | 9 Comments »
04/15/2017
April 15, 2017
Of the cheddars reviewed here, this one is the best cheddar yet at Trader Joe’s, if you like an American-style cheddar. Aged “over” 18 months, the cheese is just starting to get crumbly. Over that time the flavor has matured into a nice tasting cheddar. Compared to a Kraft sharp cheddar, this one is a bit tastier and definitely not as creamy. Both those things are good if you’re looking for an aged cheese. While tastier, the flavor is not overwhelming as the name might imply. Calories – 110 per oz (28g). Price $5.99 per pound.
Tags:calories, cheese, extra-sharp-cheddar, food, new york, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 6 Comments »
03/31/2017
March 31, 2017
This is a domestic (US) extra sharp cheddar from Wisconsin. While it’s a nice cheese, especially considering the only $4.99 per pound price, it’s not what I’d call an extra sharp cheddar. So just as a reality check, I went out and purchased an extra sharp cheddar from Kraft. The Kraft cheese is “sharper” but not as sharp as I remember it. Still however, the Kraft has more of the cheddar flavor I was expecting. As would be expected, both have more flavor when allowed to warm to room temperature. As a comparison, the Kraft came in at around $7 per pound slightly on sale at a regular super market. The texture was similar for both cheeses, solid but soft. For those wanting more flavor in their American-style cheeses, the TJ extra sharp cheddar will give you that at a reasonable price. For those wanting a still more flavorful cheese, look elsewhere.
Calories – 120 per ounce. Price $4.99 per pound. Coming up next week is a TJ X-tra X-tra Sharp New York Cheddar. We’ll see. As an aside, I nicely paired both of the cheeses above with some Amancay Malbec.
Tags:calories, cheese, extra-sharp-cheddar, food, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's, wisconsin
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 1 Comment »
October 29, 2017
Ain't Found A Good Title Blog 
