{"id":1332,"date":"2025-04-22T09:10:45","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T09:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merlinscove.com\/?p=1332"},"modified":"2025-04-27T08:03:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-27T08:03:41","slug":"supermarket-own-brand-cheddar-cheese-officially-crowned-better-than-cathedral-city-and-davidstow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.merlinscove.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/supermarket-own-brand-cheddar-cheese-officially-crowned-better-than-cathedral-city-and-davidstow\/","title":{"rendered":"Supermarket own-brand cheddar cheese officially crowned better than Cathedral City and Davidstow"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Woman\t<\/div>
A supermarket own-brand cheddar has beaten big brands in a blind taste test (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In news which might have shocked shoppers, Which? recently revealed that a supermarket<\/a> own-brand butter fared better than Lurpak in a blind taste test. <\/p>\n

A panel of 67 people picked Aldi\u2019s Norpak as the overall winner<\/a>, rating it highly for its creaminess, colour and well-rounded flavour. <\/p>\n

Now another consumer panel has also voted in favour of a supermarket own-brand product, while trying to find the UK’s best cheddar cheese. <\/p>\n

Which? pitted branded cheeses<\/a> by Cathedral City, Pilgrims Choice and Davidstow against ones from popular retailers like Sainsbury\u2019s and Aldi<\/a> and it might come as a surprise to some that it was Tesco<\/a> that came out on top.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Tesco\t<\/div>
The Tesco option got a score of 78% overall (Picture: Tesco)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tesco Finest Mature English Cheddar Cheese garnered a score of 78%, being praised for its taste and \u2018firm, smooth\u2019 texture. <\/p>\n

Testers thought the salt level and strength of flavour were just right and it was found to be \u2018pleasingly crumbly and creamy\u2019 too.<\/p>\n

The cheese is said to be \u2018about average price-wise\u2019 compared with other cheeses in the test, costing \u00a34 for 350g (\u00a31.14 per 100g), but interestingly it’s not actually cheaper than all of the bigger brands.<\/p>\n

Davidstow Classic Cheddar came in second place, with a score of 75%. It was also awarded a \u2018best buy\u2019 accolade, despite being one of the priciest cheddars on the list at \u00a34.75 for 350g (\u00a31.36 per 100g).<\/p>\n

The panel thought it was a \u2018solid choice\u2019 and shoppers were urged to look out for deals and special offers so they could nab a block while it was cheaper. <\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Cathedral\t<\/div>
Cathedral City came in fifth place (Picture: Sainsbury’s\/Cathedral City)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Cornish Cove Mature Cheddar Cheese from M&S <\/a>came in third place (\u00a34.25 for 350g), while Castello Tickler Mature Cheddar Cheese (\u00a34.75 for 300g) came in fourth.<\/p>\n

Cathedral City Mature Cheddar (\u00a33.50 for 350g) was in joint-fifth place with Pilgrims Choice Mature Cheddar (\u00a34.20 for 350g), followed by Sainsbury\u2019s Barber\u2019s Mature Cruncher Cheese (\u00a34 for 350g) and Aldi\u2019s Specially Selected West Country Mature Cheddar (\u00a32.99 for 350g).<\/p>\n

Co-op\u2019s Irresistible Somerset Mature Cheddar Cheese (\u00a34.50 for 340g) took last place in the test, as those who tried it said it \u2018lacked the crumble of a good cheese\u2019, was \u2018too smooth\u2019 and the flavour was also criticised. <\/p>\n

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Comment now<\/title><span class=\"metro-comment-cta__text\">Have you tried Tesco’s Finest Mature English Cheddar Cheese? Share your thoughts!<\/span><\/span><a class=\"metro-comment-cta__button\" href=\"#metro-comments-container\">Comment Now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How was the cheese tested?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A panel of 76 people tested the cheeses in a blind taste test which took place in September 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The group consisted of people who regularly buy and eat cheddar and were a mix of various ages and genders.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Each of the cheeses were tried in a private booth, so no one could discuss their thoughts or be influenced by anyone else.<\/p>\n<p>All of the cheddars were then rated on taste, texture, aroma and appearance, with each person sharing what they liked and didn\u2019t like.<\/p>\n<p>The final scores were based on 50% flavour, 20% aroma, 15% appearance and 15% texture.<\/p>\n<div class=\"factbox\" data-ico=\"factbox_article\" data-track-module=\"factbox_article\">\n<h2 class=\"factbox-title\">\n\t\t\t\tCheddar cheese ranking from the blind taste test:\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<div class=\"factbox-content\">\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Tesco Finest Mature English Cheddar Cheese, 78%<\/li>\n<li>Davidstow Classic Cheddar, 75%<\/li>\n<li>M&S Cornish Cove Mature Cheddar Cheese, 73%<\/li>\n<li>Castello Tickler Mature Cheddar Cheese, 71%<\/li>\n<li>Cathedral City Our Mature Cheddar and Pilgrims Choice Mature Cheddar, both with a score of 70%<\/li>\n<li>Sainsbury’s Barber’s Mature Cruncher Cheese, Taste the Difference, 69%<\/li>\n<li>Aldi Specially Selected West Country Mature Cheddar, 68%<\/li>\n<li>Co-op Irresistible Somerset Mature Cheddar Cheese, 66%<\/li>\n<\/ol><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Do you have a story to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Get in touch by emailing <a href=\"mailto:MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk\">MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A supermarket own-brand cheddar has beaten big brands in a blind taste test (Picture: Getty Images) In news which might have shocked shoppers, Which? recently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.merlinscove.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.merlinscove.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.merlinscove.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.merlinscove.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.merlinscove.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1332"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.merlinscove.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1338,"href":"http:\/\/www.merlinscove.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332\/revisions\/1338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.merlinscove.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.merlinscove.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.merlinscove.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.merlinscove.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}