Cheese. For many, it’s a staple ingredient in their favourite dishes – from pasta, omelettes and toasties to scones, salads and tarts.
It’s certainly not a rarity to spot a cheese lover popping a slab of Cathedral City cheddar in their shopping basket, regardless of the price tag attached.
But is this down to their familiarity with the brand, or does the product simply taste better than cheaper supermarket alternatives?
Well, the Food and Drink team is keen to answer that.
We’re back with our second instalment of Battle of the Brands, our weekly series aiming to help readers grab a food shop bargain as the cost of living crisis continues to affect everyone across the country.
How is the team planning on doing this? Well, we’re putting a range of the nation’s favourite branded products to the test against supermarket own brands.
This week, it’s all eyes on Cathedral City cheddar cheese, which hit the shelves more than five decades ago and is made in Cornwall.
Who knows, you may even find yourself preferring the alternatives – and your wallet would likely thank you for it, too.
The items and supermarkets we tried against Cathedral Cheddar Cheese include:
- Co-op British Mature Cheddar
- Aldi Emporium Smoky British Cheddar Slices
- Morrisons Mature Cheddar
- Sainsbury’s Cheddar & British Regional Cheese
Cathedral City cheddar cheese
Price: £3.80 for 350g
The Cathedral City mature cheddar was a lot lighter in colour in comparison to the supermarket alternatives.
Andy felt it was rather “bland” and failed to pack a punch like a true mature cheddar should, comparing it to Babybel. We all agreed to an extent.
Nevertheless, it was creamy, soft and melted in the mouth, in terms of its texture.
We all preferred the flavour of the Morrisons version. However, it’s no better for your waistline.
There are 125 calories per 30g serving of Cathedral City cheddar cheese and 124 calories per 30g serving of the Morrisons mature cheddar.
Overall team scores:
- Value for money: 3/5
- Nutritional value: 1.5/5
- Taste: 3.5/5
- Mouthfeel: 4.5/5
Morrisons mature cheddar
Price: £1.99 for 250g
The Morrisons mature cheddar was more pungent, sour in taste and crumbly.
It also had more of a bite to it.
Julia enjoyed the flavour and, soon after, Mariam mentioned that it was a nice cheese to enjoy on its own.
We all agreed with each other on both points.
The Food and Drink team will definitely be adding the supermarket alternative to their cheeseboards in the future.
Overall team scores:
-
- Value for money: 3.5/5
- Nutritional value: 1.5/5
- Taste: 4/5
- Mouthfeel: 3.5/5
To hear our thoughts on the supermarket alternatives from the Co-op, Aldi and Sainsbury’s, please watch our Battle of the Brands video above.
Public’s verdict
So what did the public make of the brand vs the supermarket budget product?
Overall, most were rather torn on their preferred cheese – one participant even said they didn’t taste much difference between the two.
It was apparent that they found the Cathedral City cheddar cheese milder than the Morrisons version.
In the end, the branded product came out on top.
Tune in next week where we’ll be putting Tropicana’s fresh orange juice up against supermarket brands to find out if their versions are better.
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