2008
Double Gloucester with Onion and Chive
I’ve heard people complain that while Lidl cheese is cheap, there isn’t a big selection and it’s not uniformly good. There is some truth in this - sadly you won’t find any of the fabulous farmhouse cheeses being made in Ireland and there are not many speciality continental cheeses either.
Some of the real bargain basement cheeses are not that great tasting either, but then cheap cheese slices are not up to much no matter where you buy them. When Lidl recently had a go at Tesco’s value range, cheese slices were one of the products they highlighted. Lidl pointed out that their cheese slices had 51% cheese, while Tesco’s value slices had only 11%.
Now I don’t know about you but I was quite surprised to learn that any cheese slices were only about half cheese - but at just 11% I am kind of amazed they are allowed to call them cheese at all. Cheese flavoured plastic maybe?
Having said that the selection of cheeses available in Lidl is getting better all the time and last week I spotted some newcomers, or at least cheeses I’d never seen there before.
I bought this Double Gloucester but there is also a Stilton with Cranberry and Wensleydale with Apricot in the range, both of which look very good indeed.
This is my new favourite Lidl cheese.
Though somewhat softer textured than most Double Gloucester I’ve had, it has the lovely mature flavour and the rich butteriness that is characteristic of this cheese. The amount of onion and chive is just right - not overpowering, but definitely there. It’s very moreish.
I haven’t used this cheese for cooking yet - I am thinking it would be wonderful with cauliflower - but it is really really nice with some chopped scallions and garlic mayonnaise as a quick and simple lunch. Which is how I ate it yesterday.
August 26th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I like my Stilton with Stilton, but those do sound tempting!
I’m sorry to be dense, but I sincerely don’t understand this. When I buy cheese, I have this apparently unrealistic expectation that it’s 100% cheese. When one buys a product that is only 11% or 51% cheese, what exactly is the rest of it?
August 26th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
You know what, this is the cheese that my mum used to get me to like cheese! If you see what I mean. I love the stuff now but it was a definite trial in the early years
August 26th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Sabrina: I wondered that too, so I looked. Those processed slices also contain water (second ingredient listed, so I suspect quite a lot of it), butter, whey starch, milk powder, milk protein and a selection of preservatives and emulsifiers.
I haven’t been to Tesco to look at their amazing 11% cheese “cheese”, but Galtee and Calvita cheese slices also contain just 50% cheese. Some others don’t put a percentage, which would make you wonder - apparently getting it as high as 50% is something to boast about!
August 26th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm cheese
August 27th, 2008 at 9:17 am
11% cheese? That’s like the chocolate ‘flavouring’ in their Tesco Value chocolate chip cookies or the reconstituted ham in the sliced ham packets. Eugh! After reading the packets two or three times, I have never bought tesco value stuff. Afraid it might kill me…