Is this cheese worth going out of my way for

[jeral Profile]

According to what I can see, Pampy, from the UK, the short answer is Yes. Although their standard US tasteless like our mild cheddar is roughly the same, any aged or artisan cheeses seem to be about four times more even if made there so add shipping/handling/customs on from the UK plus intra US transport and you're talking gold ingots.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Walmart sell several English Cheddars, they only have the minis of Cathedral City but the price is not out of line with other Cheddars

https://www.walmart.ca/en/grocery/deli- ... ese/N-9816

[Amyw Profile]

https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/dairy/cathe ... 57.article

They’re certainly marketing it hard

[Stokey Sue Profile]

https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/dairy/cathedral-city-enters-us-market-with-trio-of-cheddar-products/648557.article

They’re certainly marketing it hard

An 18 storey bill board in Times Square!

Makes me wonder just how much they are expecting to drop on EU sales

[Amyw Profile]

I know , it makes Cathedral City sound like this premium high end cheese , whereas like most people have said it’s one of those perfectly ok , reasonably priced cheddars

[ZeroCook Profile]

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Saputo is Canadian, bought Dairy Crest who owns Cath. City and Davidstiw in 2019. As a Canadian company they have direct unfettered trading bloc access to US markets via NAFTA.
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/canad ... 15193.html

A lot of American cheddar or what passes for cheddar or is called cheddar is nothing like British cheddar - it's softer and squidgier, orangier, 'Colby style' cheddar. It would (rightly) be refused entry onto any serious cheese board. Tillamook cheddar has slightly more of a conventional cheddar texture but still pales in comparison, even the extra reserve/extra sharp, as Herbidacius mentioned. Canadian Black Diamond is much closer to a sharp, dry, light coloured English cheddar and is relatively pricey.

Stokey, your Walmart link is in Canada. Looks like they're testing it out with mini portions. What it suggests is that Walmart or Sam's Club, Wmart's Costco version, will be the retailers in the US, obviously a potentially huge market. At the equivalent of USD 14 per lb they'll be selling in the premium bracket like Black Diamond.
https://www.samsclub.com/p/black-diamon ... _product_2

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Sorry, was surprised I couldn’t see any of the American cheeses I expected on my link, Canada explains it

USD 14 per lb for a premium brand sounds reasonable

[scullion Profile]

USD 14 per lb for a premium brand sounds reasonable

that sounds expensive to me - sure you don't mean per kilo?
the price per kilo of the small packs of cathedral city (in canadian dollars) in the walmart link come in at about £24 per kilo!

[jeral Profile]

Amyw, that's the link from The Grocer I posted on Sunday, but another one said that in Aug 20 Cathedral City extra mature had been withdrawn from sale temporarily due to high demand. It didn't say if withdrawn here or overseas, though logically it would try to service its lucrative markets first. That aligns with the Davidstow plan of extending the Cornish factory. If it gets a foothold before Brexit, it could well be better able to keep its US market after.

We really need Mark to tell us how much he'd have to pay incl any shipping to him for C.City as we're just speculating.

For Mark, another thing I read was that some posh US cheese is cut from a block and wrapped for mail order thus not as shown in the advert picture with some reviews complaining it arrived sweaty or not good. C.City as I mentioned is vacpacked per piece so a plus if buying online.

Re the Walmart link, being a Canada link explains why I couldn't find anything other than ordinary "cheddar" cheese on the US website. I wondered how come I'd missed all that.

Incidentally, the name of Cheddar cheese is supposed to be geographically protected, but as we know, the US chooses not to recognise such in its labelling.

[scullion Profile]

i think only 'west country farmhouse cheddar' is a protected name.
i think they decided that the cheddar process couldn't be protected - in the same way that cornish pasty is but pasty isn't.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Incidentally, the name of Cheddar cheese is supposed to be geographically protected, but as we know, the US chooses not to recognise such in its labelling.

No, the protected designation (PDO) is “West Country Farmhouse Cheddar”

Cheddaring is a process used in making cheddar style cheeses (a method of cutting up the curd before pressing it) and it was in use to make cheddar throughout the English speaking world long before PDO was thought of, so not possible to make simple “cheddar” the designation

My Dad was very fond of Canadian Cheddar, super strong

I’m annoyed my link was not USA as I thought I’d been quite careful

[Pampy Profile]

C.City as I mentioned is vacpacked per piece so a plus if buying online.

Re the Walmart link, being a Canada link explains why I couldn't find anything other than ordinary "cheddar" cheese on the US website. I wondered how come I'd missed all that.

Incidentally, the name of Cheddar cheese is supposed to be geographically protected, but as we know, the US chooses not to recognise such in its labelling.

Cathedral City is packaged in a protective atmosphere, not vacuum packed.
I'm not sure that you're right about "Cheddar" being geographically protected, as in the UK, you can buy cheddar made in Scotland, Wales and Ireland as well as Canada (and possibly other places too). Maybe if a cheese isn't made in Somerset, it has to have the place of origin in its description.

[Earthmaiden Profile]

I noticed on the news the other day that they said if a Brexit trading deal could not be reached it would affect supplies of various foods to the UK ... including Cheddar cheese . I wondered if that would be Irish cheese.

[jeral Profile]

Cathedral City is packaged in a protective atmosphere, not vacuum packed.

True, and optimally/necessarily for resealable pillow packs, although my point of course was that each piece is individually wrapped thus at the factory so should not deteriorate during transport.

I'm not sure that you're right about "Cheddar" being geographically protected ...

You're right, the protection (PDO) is actually for "West Country Farmhouse Cheddar". Quote "Fourteen different makers based in the West Country are licensed to use the EU Protected Designation of Origin "West Country Farmhouse Cheddar". It has to be made on a farm in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, or Somerset, the British Cheese Board says, and from locally produced milk and using traditional cheddar-making techniques."
Seemingly, even foreign cheddar can be called British in the UK if packed in Britain, due to that unjustifiable loophole in our labelling laws.

[ZeroCook Profile]

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Mark, where is your Cathedral City advert/flyer from - who is selling it?

Sorry, was surprised I couldn’t see any of the American cheeses I expected on my link, Canada explains it

USD 14 per lb for a premium brand sounds reasonable

USD 14 per lb is around the going rate for premium brand imported cheese. Wholefoods Market sells a lot of imported cheese for around USD 15 - 30. Mainly French and Italian but some UK.

Barbers
https://products.wholefoodsmarket.com/p ... ese-90a87b

St Agur
https://products.wholefoodsmarket.com/p ... gur-41be30

Comte
https://products.wholefoodsmarket.com/p ... mte-4e7076

What is considered premium in the US is not necessarily what is considered premium in Europe and at least about twice what you'd pay for really good cheeses for example at the local Kentish Town wholefood/natural food shop's smallish but excellent proper cheese counter where prices generally range from around GBP 12 - 23 per kg and everything is artisanal and non factory produced.


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[Stokey Sue Profile]

at least about twice what you'd pay for really good cheeses for example at the local Kentish Town wholefood/natural food shop's smallish but excellent proper cheese counter where prices generally range from around GBP 12 - 23 per kg and everything is artisanal and non factory produced.

When were you last in Kentish Town? because that is cheap by current N London Standards, outside a supermarket
It's not at all unusual to pay over £25 per kg for good British & European cheeses in delis and cheese mongers - Neal's Yard Dairy sell "proper" cheddars at £23.80 to £ 31.90, and cheddar is not an especially expensive cheese

But I take your point about cheeses being perceived as more premium once they have crossed a border, in the UK people think the French President Brie & Camembert are special, whereas I'd regard them as entry level, proper brie de Meaux is a different beast (Lidl's is not bad though)

[ZeroCook Profile]

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It is cheap, Stokey, tho the low end is for their basic Colston Bassett Stilton for eg. The better stuff is as you say, around mid 20's and upwards per kg. Wholefoods sells Neals Yard Colston Bassett Stilton for +- USD 23 per lb or approx USD 50 + per kg or +-£60/kg which is +- £24 from UK Neals Yard. Actually, that shop - you probably know which one I mean - is definitely worth checking out price and quality wise for a lot of things.

Agree with you on President cheeses and Brie de Meaux at Lidls.
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[mark111757 Profile]

Greetings gang. Am doing OK. Still in iso. Still no smell but taste is slowly coming back.

Questions and comments..,.

Scullion.....depends on how mush shipping might be. Seasoned pioneers wants £9.95 for shipping to the States. No thanks. If I can find a place here that carries it, different story. Britsuperstore was high for shipping. But slot depends on my mood and if I think it is worth it.

Would never buy cheese just wrapped in paper. Preferably vac packed and sent chilled.

Other thoughts.....

No luck with Walmart.com


https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=c ... y%20cheese

Zero cook

My bro sent me a flyer from a Buffalo, NY based chain. Tops friendly markets

For the holidays it is on sale $4.99 for 200 g/€4.09/£3.69 times 5 packs makes a kg. $24.95 a kg.

Around these parts it is worth looking for black diamond cheddar out of Canada. We sold it st the store and it had a respectable following. If I recall there was 3 and 5 and 20 year varieties. Higher on the price scale people really seemed to like it.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Greetings gang. Am doing OK. Still in iso. Still no smell but taste is slowly coming back.

Questions and comments..,.

...snip..
Would never buy cheese just wrapped in paper. Preferably vac packed and sent chilled.

Good to hear taste is coming back, hope it doesn't go strange, as sometimes happens

All the really good cheese shops like Neal's Yard, Paxton & Whitfield, La Fromagerie etc and local delis sell cheese to walk in customers cut to order and wrapped in paper, or more likely special cheese wrap like this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Formaticum-Che ... B002I47P40
They don't really sell vac packed cheese, as vac packing makes cheese sweat, but I don't know how they wrap it when posting it, as I can easily get to walk in shops

[aero280 Profile]

I have bought cheese from Neals Yard, Paxton and Whitfield, Northumberland Cheese Co. & The Bath Cheese Co.

They all came hand wrapped, except the Northumberland which was vac packed. And in cardboard boxes, lined with insulation and with an ice pack inside.

All were sent on a "Next Day" delivery.