While I was in India, I was not exposed to cheese, as it was not locally available, and only after leaving India, I got exposed to Cheese, and I love it. However I have zero knowledge about aging, natural or processed cheese. For me everything in supermarket isle is good and tasty and I mainly buy cheese like Parmesan, Mozzarella and Pepper Jack.
As a part of the Food buzz taste maker program I got $25 to sample the Sargento cheese and a processed cheese. Just like wine tasting, Sargento asked us to taste cheese. My advisor Rolf, while I was in Stockholm, Sweden used to go for wine tasting. But if ask me which wine would I like, I will say fruity, sweet white wine compared to red wine. Rolf used to say that really aged dry wine is perfect for evening dinner. Because of him, I came to know about different wine and its taste.
I thank food buzz and Sargento cheese for giving me this opportunity to test various cheeses.
Lesson 1 what is natural and processed cheese?
Natural cheese is the cheese made directly from milk. At first it is the unripe cheese, the curd, separated from the whey that forms soft cheeses like Ricotta, Paneer etc, whereas in matured or ripened cheese, the curd may be further treated by the addition of select strains of bacteria, mold, yeast or a combination of these ripening agents. The bacteria, mold and yeast continue to ripen the cheese over time, giving cheese’s flavor and texture as it ages.
When choosing natural cheese as an ingredient, it’s important to understand how a cheese will perform in a finished product based on its age and storage conditions.
Natural cheeses are often categorized according to their moisture or degree of softness or hardness. Soft cheeses include Brie, Camembert, ricotta and cottage cheese. Semisoft cheeses include blue, brick, feta, Havarti, Monterey Jack, mozzarella, Muenster and provolone. Hard cheeses include Cheddar, Colby, Edam, Gouda and Swiss. Very hard cheese varieties include Parmesan and Romano.
Processed cheeses
They are made by blending one or more natural cheeses into a homogenous mass, then heating the mix and adding emulsifying salts, which modify the appearance, texture and flavor of the cheese. Process cheeses contain more moisture than natural cheeses. Pasteurized process cheeses include American cheese, cheese spreads and cheese foods. Cold-pack cheese is a blend of natural cheeses processed without heat. Flavoring and seasonings are often added.
If you want read more about cheese from here
Lesson 2: Appearance
Natural cheese, like cheddar comes in different colors and is non-glossy in their appearance. Whereas processed cheeses are shiny in their look
Lesson 3: Texture
Natural cheese varies in their texture and tends to break when you try to break them. Processed cheese on the other hand is smooth and rubbery, and often will bend and fold without breaking.
Lesson 4: Smell
Natural cheese has earthy, fruity aromatic smell. Processed cheese lacks particular aroma.
Lesson 5: Taste
Natural cheeses tend to have different array of taste from savory to fruity to spicy and sharp. Processed cheese taste more salty.
For the Cheese testing I bought 2 different types of Sargento cheese and processed cheese. I selected Sargento Pepper jack and Swiss cheese. We love pepper jack which is most commonly consumed at our home with Ritz crackers. Swiss cheese is used make sandwiches.
Day before yesterday when we visited our local grocery, in the bakery they were making fresh bread, I love the smell of warm bread. As I am not baking too much bread nowadays, I decided to buy one. So yesterday night I thought of making sandwich as our dinner. I made a baked vegetable cutlet/burger to go with it. I tried Sargento Swiss cheese in the sandwich, with veggies like cucumber, onion, tomato and red bell pepper. For my hubby I used some Dijon mustard where for little one some tomato ketchup, for me I didn’t use anything except cheese. Trust me they taste great. I will post the recipe of vegetable cutlet later.
For cheese platter I tried Swiss cheese, pepper jack and a processed cheese which is also a pepper jack along with red wine, grapes and apple.
Here is the picture of my sandwich and cheese platter.
Look, taste and smell
Swiss cheese: Creamy non –glossy, sweetish with buttery flavor
Pepper Jack: Creamy with strips of peppers, buttery flavors with strong peppery kick
Processed Cheese: Shiny, salty and less peppery kick
Verdict: Sargento wins the battle.
Opinion expressed here is entirely mine
This is Swathi ( Dr. Ambujom Saraswathy Ph.D) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen who loves to explore cuisines from all over the world. Whenever possible I try to to give an Indian touch to several of the world cuisine, and has weakness for freshly baked bread. All the recipes you see here are created by me and approved after taste-test by my family.
Reshmi Mahesh says
Lovely review...tempting...
I have shared few awards...pls come and collect it from my space..:)
El Oteador de los Mercados says
Cheese and red fruit ... all a delicious treat.
Kaveri says
Hi Swathi!
There are some awards waiting for you at my space..please do stop by and collect them.
Rebecca from Chow and Chatter says
good review and my Indian hubby now likes cheese he he brie mostly thanks for the congrats on the baby hugs
Reeni says
Your veggie sandwich looks excellent Swathi! And the cheese testing - how fun!
Sunshine And Smile says
I love cheese , wish I could have grabbed that plate 🙂 Nice post with very detail and clear explanation plus the sandwich looks good!
Jay says
wish..I should be your neighbour dear...you have
such a lovely creation of food dishes..:P
Tasty Appetite
julie says
Very informative post..loved reading,Swathi!!
You have a lovely space,glad to meet u 🙂
Hope u'll visit my space too
Tasty Treat
Priya (Yallapantula) Mitharwal says
wow, lot of good info and great recipes here 🙂
Pushpa says
I love sargento pepper jack cheese,you have nicely explained the different forms of cheese.
Miriam says
I adore snacky meals, have a nice weekend!! Miriam@Meatless Meals For Meat Eaters
Tina (PinayInTexas) says
What a very informative post on cheese, Swathi! You really did a good job!
Quay Po Cooks says
I learn more about cheese from your post. Thanks. Both the sandwich and the cheese platter looks very appetizing!
Mary says
You did a wonderful job here. I really learned things I didn't know before. Your photos are wonderful as well.I appreciate the effort that went into this post. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary
Peggy says
Great review Swathi!
ente pachakasala says
nice sandwich dear
Sensible Vegetarian says
Lovely post Swathi and the platter looks very tempting.
Candace says
We are just "crackers about cheese" in our house! We often have a cheese plate with a glass of wine and some fruit. I am looking forward to learning more about your vegetable cutlet. It looks delicious peeking out of your sandwich there. 🙂
♥peachkins♥ says
I will be having a cheese party soon...
Suja says
Informative post dear..thanks for sharing
VineelaSiva says
Nice platter love it.I reaally love the pepper jack its very spicy and gives nice flavour to the sandwich and also the crackers.
divya says
Looks mouthwatering !!
Elsa says
I eat lots of cheese, but my knowledge is limited. I recently learned not to top pizza with very cheap mozzarella cheese. Not only is the taste weird, but it doesn't melt properly. I actually bought sargento the other day and it melted beautifully on my pizza.
Priya says
Soo cheesy, love cheese as anyform..excellent write up..
Nitha says
Good to know these.. thank u..
Ramya says
What a cheeeesy write up:-)loved it!Never knew sooo much abt cheese
Saraswathi Iyer says
NIce post and very informative. have bookmarked.
Kalpana Sareesh says
Wonderful post on cheese these clicks r too good..
G.Pavani says
thanks dear for posting such a informative post.
Kaveri says
That's a wonderful post with lots of info regarding cheese....very tempting sandwich and cheese platter
Treat and Trick says
Very informative post dear! I love cheese too..
http://treatntrick.blogspot.com
Mélange says
Oh,that was a nice informative post Swathi.I appreciate this one ! Cheers !
Priya Sreeram says
nice informative post and I agree with Sarah finding cream cheese is also an uphill task here !
Sharmilee! :) says
Tempting clicks and am drooling here seeing the cheese
Vatsala. says
Glad to know your opinion about cheese, very informative.
Sarah says
i love cheese too! i really wonder why the variety of cheeses available abroad are not common here in India. Im sure once Indians would love cheese once exposed to them. Even finding cream cheese is so difficult here.
Joanne says
This post definitely reminded me why I love cheese so much. It's so informative!
Hamaree Rasoi says
Thnaks a lot for posting such an informative post about cheese.
Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi