Borden Cheese Is Economical And Reliable
Not to be outdone in the variety department, Borden has 18 different flavors of cheese in their collection. Like the other cheesemakers in their category, Borden produces cheese in slices, chunks, shredded cheese, and snack sizes. We like the wide variety of cheese options, which include Oaxaca and Queso Fresco cheeses that are becoming more popular in the US, alongside Italian, Mexican, and flavored cheddar cheese blends. Borden products also tend to be priced just below competitor pricing, which helps our bottom line when buying groceries for the whole family for the week.
Much like Sargento before them, Borden cheeses all tend to have a similar texture. Not too hard, not too soft, and a tad rubbery. It’s an easy texture to eat on a sandwich, shred onto a salad or mix into a casserole, and melts easily without instantly breaking. But rest assured that it’s actual cheese and not just a processed cheese product. Borden’s got a reliable smoothness to it, but if you’re looking for more nuanced cheeses, you’ll need to keep reading.
Sargento Medium Cheddar Slices
With a lineup of basic ingredientsâpasteurized milk culture, salt, enzymes, and annattoâand an average amount of sodium, this Sargento sliced cheddar is a completely acceptable option if you like the convenience of having your cheese pre-sliced. Just remember that there’s typically a markup for that.
Kraft Cheese Has Noticeable Flavor And Variety
Thanks to iconic products like Kraft Singles and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in the “blue box,” Kraft is one of the largest dairy companies in the world . As is the case with Velveeta cheese, the popular American cheese slices can’t really be classified as cheese, but Kraft makes a wider selection of cheeses available in slices, chunks, deli blocks, shredded cheeses, and snacks.
When it comes to the core favorites in the Kraft cheese lineup, including the cheddar cheeses, Monterey Jack, and mozzarella, we found that these cheeses also had a wider range of textures and flavors than the Borden and Sargento counterparts. The sharp cheddar is a little denser and crumblier, with a stronger cheddar flavor, and it’s very different from the creamier Monterey Jack that’s got a milder flavor and softer texture. In a blind tasting, you may even be able to fool some of your friends into thinking that the Kraft two-year aged natural cheddar cheese is fancier than the label may have you think.
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Organic Valley Raw Sharp Cheddar
This cheese falls in line with the nutrition of other cheeses on this list, but it stands out because of its “raw” label. It’s important to clarify the difference between raw milk and raw milk cheese. Raw milk has not been pasteurized to kill off the good or bad bacteria, so drinking raw milk is dicey. However, when it comes to making raw cheese, the microorganisms in raw milk are a welcome taste and aroma variable for cheesemakers. In the US, cheese made from raw milk has to be aged for at least 60 days to decrease the risk of pathogens, and cheesemakers are required to follow specific FDA food safety protocols and conduct testing throughout the production process. Those who are immunocompromised in any way should probably skip the raw cheese options like this one.
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Our Big Sustainability Push
Although Cabot had always operated with respect for ESG issues, we began a more deliberate push toward sustainability in the mid-2000s. By that time I had moved up from vice president of the Cabot-branded product division to SVP of finance for the commercial division, which included Cabot, McCadam cheese, and Agri-Mark whey products. Roberta gathered usRichard, me, our manufacturing chiefs, some of her team members, and an outside consultantfor a serious powwow.
I remember the meeting vividly. She threw something like 30 corporate sustainability reports on the tabledocuments prepared annually by big companies such as GE and IBM and smaller ones such as Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and told us we needed something similar: Financial reports were no longer enough. She explained that an ESG report wouldnt fall under marketing. It was an operational imperative.
Roberta has always been a visionary: In 1995 she predicted that demand for organic products would skyrocket. Although we were way too early and then gave up on the business too soon, the market ultimately proved her rightwhich meant we eventually jumped back in. We suspected that in her new push for sustainability tracking and reporting, her instincts were still good and her timing had improved. So we backed her. Cabot was going to become a much better, more transparent organization in terms of everything from our treatment of cows and fields to our farm, factory, and transportation emissions.
Sample Questions
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We Are A Certified B Corporation
As the worlds first B-Corp certified dairy co-op, Cabot farmers do business in a way thats better for our farmers, our team members, and our communities.
Meet Cabots Co-operative of Dairy Farm Families
Learn more about our Farmer-Owned Dairy Co-op
Enjoy Delicious Recipes from our Farm Family Kitchens
Land O’ Lakes Is Reliable But Limited When It Comes To Cheese
If you buy most of your cheese in the deli section of the grocery store, then you’ve likely at least tried some Land O’ Lakes cheeses, if not enjoyed them regularly. While most of the deli cheeses they offer are American cheeses, Land O’ Lakes also makes Swiss and provolone cheese options. But whichever Land O’ Lakes cheese you choose for your sandwich, you’re likely to get a tasty, consistent, tender, and not aggressively cheesy option.
With that said, you’re not going to find blocks of cheese that you can slice for your next cheese board or even shred to make a gourmet macaroni and cheese dish. While Land o’ Lakes produces notable sliced deli cheeses, that’s about as fancy as it gets. What they’re really known for is their extensive line of dairy products. As a matter of fact, they’re the best-selling brand of butter in the US, according to Food & Wine. They’ve also got a full line of milk, cream, eggs, margarine, and spreads that are widely available almost everywhere. So, while this cheese might be great for sandwiches, we wouldn’t call it a go-to for all your cheese-based recipe needs.
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Where Do They Make Cabot Cheese
CabotCabot
. Hereof, where does Cabot cheese come from?
Award-winning cheeses are made in Cabot and Middlebury, Vermont and Chateaugay New York. The best premium butter is churned in West Springfield, Massachusetts and in Cabot, Vermont we produce light cheddars, flavored cheddars, greek-style yogurt, cottage cheese and sour cream.
Subsequently, question is, what is Cabot cheese made of? Cabot’s Seriously Sharp cheddar is no joke! Get ready for the complex and intense flavor that sets this cheddar apart from the crowd. Ingredients: Pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes, annatto .
Beside this, what is Cabot Cheese?
ABOUT CABOT CHEESE. Cabot Cheese produces a wide range of products, but Cheddar is their most extensive and best-selling line. All Cabot Cheese is pasteurized, gluten-free, and suitable for vegetarians.
Where is Cabot cheese made Vermont?
Our Farmers’ Store, located along Vermont’s Route 100 in the Stowe/Waterbury area, offers a fantastic selection of Cabot’s award-winning cheeses , along with other Vermont specialty foods, microbrews, hard ciders, and wines.
Cabot Creamery Is On The Move
Our photographers drone captured this view of Cabot Creamerys headquarters in the Mad River Valley Business Park in Waitsfield, Vt.
The co-ops Gratitude Grille visits volunteers and serves free grilled cheese sandwiches. Another community program is Reward Volunteers. Individuals who log their hours can win a prize pack. From February 2012 to February 2015, more than 213,000 hours were logged by 3,180 volunteers to benefit more than 2,983 organizations. Photo courtesy of Cabot
Cabot is more than cheese. The creamery makes Greek yogurt, cottage cheese and butter, too. Photo courtesy of Cabot
CFO Matt Hendricks huddles with Agri-Mark CEO Ed Townley at Cabot Creamerys headquarters in Waitsfield, Vt. Cabot is the processing arm of Agri-Mark, a dairy farmers cooperative.
Cheddar production by U.S. cheesemakers is on a five-year upswing. There are 218 plants making 3.3 billion pounds of Cheddar cheese.
Can cheesemakers save the world? If any can, it might be Vermont-based Cabot Creamery Cooperative, the processing arm of Agri-Mark, the Northeast dairy cooperative.
Cabot says it is the worlds first cheesemaker and dairy cooperative to achieve B Corporation certification. B Corps are judged on their social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency, as certified by the nonprofit B Lab.
But its not that simple, explained Agri-Mark CEO Ed Townley, who met with Dairy Foods in the co-ops office in Waitsfield, Vt.
A tanker every 8 minutes
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Cooperation From The Start
Just over a century ago, in 1919, a group of farmers in Cabot, Vermont, had a problem: They were producing more milk than the local community could consume. Then they had a bright idea: If they pooled their excess and transported it to other towns, or turned it into longer-lasting products such as butter and cheese for wider distribution, they could generate a healthy income and divide it among themselves. The Cabot cooperative was born.
In the 1940s the group, then 56 farms, added a cheese-making facility, and in the 1960s and 1970s, with added capacity from even more farms, it started making cultured productssour cream and cottage cheese. But those goods were sold locallywithin about a 40-mile radius and to a few Vermont ski areas and restaurants, none of which advertised their use of Cabot cheese. In the early 1980s the co-op, by then comprising about 500 farms, finally started marketing to food-services groups in Boston. But not until 1989 did it realize that its products had much greater growth potential.
When suppliers are shareholders, however, they do have the power to put the management team in a tricky position. Our farmers provide high-quality milk they could vote to pay themselves well above market rates. But they understand that if the co-op is to survive and thrive over the long term, our branded products must be priced competitively enough to sustain customer demand.
Organic Valley Cheese Is Award
With the larger selection of organic cheeses and dairy products on the market these days, you’ve got more choices than ever when selecting a delicious cheese snack. Since the first cartons of organic milk hit the shelves in grocery stores, the Organic Valley company has expanded to include a full line of dairy products, eggs, cheeses, and an ever-growing collection of meats.
We tasted the Raw Sharp Cheddar Cheese and were immediately impressed with how crisp and authentic it tasted. That shouldn’t have come as a surprise, given that it won the Bronze medal at the Los Angeles International Dairy Competition in both 2012 and 2017. While the cheeses Organic Valley produces are generally the same types of cheese produced by their competitors, we could tell the quality of the cheeses had gone up a notch. With a handful of cheese awards under their belt, it’s clear that Organic Valley is interested in refining the popular cheese market, if not adding a little creativity to it.
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Kerrygold Is For Stepping Up Your Cheese Game
You may recognize the Kerrygold brand from the butter section at the grocery store those gold and silver foil packages of Irish butter are hard to miss. If you haven’t tasted one of the 10 unique kinds of cheese they offer, there’s no time like the present! The Kerrygold Aged Cheddar is a nice place to start if you’re looking for something familiar. But after that, we’d suggest tasting the Dubliner cheese. A firm cheese that’s got a few salty crystals interspersed throughout and a delicately sweet and nutty cheese, with an almost tropical finish.
The Cashel Blue Farmhouse Cheese is also a wonderful introduction to blue cheese if you’re not sure where to begin. It’s got a gentle tangy taste without the overwhelming moldy or ammonia flavor that scares some people away from blue cheeses. It’s great crumbled on top of a salad, or served on a cheese board for a well-rounded presentation. If you needed a little more encouragement to try this blue cheese, know that it’s been awarded the gold medal at the International Cheese Awards every year since 2009! You’re definitely going to be stepping your cheese game up a notch with Kerrygold.
Cheddar: The Original American Cheese
In the 17th century England, both cheesemaking technology and news ways to transport it were rapidly evolving. That’s also when it saw a migration across the Atlantic to the colonies. The settlers of Massachusetts Bay Colony came from the dairying regions of East Anglia, which was the original supplier of cheese and butter to London’s growing urban market, and with these settlers came a deep knowledge of, and interest in, dairying and cheesemaking.
The Puritans kept careful tabs on their home country’s advances in cheesemaking, and for a long time were the only big name in cheese in America. It took until the mid-19th century, when new waves of immigrants crossed the Atlantic, for other cheeses to take root in the U.S. As the colonies expanded northward and eventually westward, cheesemaking traditions followed, laying a strong foundation for cheddar across the Northeast.*
Which isn’t to say that early American cheese was only cheddar. Those colonial cheeses were firm, aged cow milk types that today we’d call cheddar-like, but they also bore some similarity to English territorial cheeses like Cheshire.
The legacy remains. These days the U.S. produces over three billion pounds of cheddar a year.
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Cracker Barrel Cheese Is Bold And Versatile
We’ll admit that we were surprised when biting into the first slice off the block of Cracker Barrel Aged Reserved Cheddar. Could this possibly be made by the same Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and restaurants found near interstate exits all across America? It turns out that no, there is no affiliation, and the cheese brand is actually owned by Kraft Foods, which has been producing it since 1954.
Once we cleared that up, it started to make sense that Kraft was saving its higher-end cheeses for its higher-end cheese line. The line of Cracker Barrel cheese bars has about a dozen different flavors, including several cheddars, gouda, asiago, and Swiss. They also produce macaroni and cheese, sliced and shredded cheeses, as well as spreads and snacks, but some of those products were harder for us to find in stores.
The bars are clearly created with the intention of slicing and serving as a cheese course. The Cracker Barrel website even offers cheese pairings for those interested in making their own arrangements. While not the world’s most exclusive cheese, we like that they’re accessible, crowd-friendly, and enjoy the textures and bold flavors of the cheeses. We also appreciate the guidance for pairings for those interested in learning how to incorporate cheese into their dining and entertaining experiences.
Cabot Vermont Sharp Cheddar
Cabot’s sharp cheddar has the same simple ingredients as other cheeses in this lineup. But the brand itself holds “Best in Class” awards for several of their cheeses from national and international cheese competitions, which attests to their overall production quality. Cabot is a B corp which means they meet the highest standards for social and environmental practices, transparency, and legal accountability in creating an inclusive global economy. The company is comprised of 800 family-owned farms, so if supporting small farmers is a priority for you, this is your perfect option.
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Sargento Is A Convenient And Tasty Cheese Choice
Sargento has been pioneering cheese products since 1953, when it launched the first pre-packaged sliced and shredded cheeses on the dairy aisle. Today, they’re just as competitive as the other big brands like Kraft and Borden, offering an extensive line of shredded, sliced, and snack cheeses.
At this point in our cheese brand rankings, we’re starting to see cheesemakers break out of the mostly-American cheese category and developing several styles of cheddar, as well as mozzarella, gouda, parmesan, and international cheese blends. Not to be left off of your next grazing table, Sargento even produces pre-cubed cheese.
When it comes to the flavor and texture of Sargento cheese, you’re going to find cheese that is easy to eat nothing too hard, and nothing too gooey. Flavor-wise, none of the cheeses are aggressive in flavor or smell, with many of them like the mozzarella, provolone, and Swiss all having a similar innocuous flavor profile and textures. Our favorite cheeses in the Sargento line include the snack bites and snack sticks, which are ultra-convenient to carry around on a long day out, road trip, or pack for lunch.
What Makes Cabot Cheeses Naturally Lactose
To start, its important to know that lactose is simply the natural sugar found in milk. To understand how cheese becomes lactose-free, first look to the cheesemaking process. To begin, curd is separated from whey . The curd eventually becomes cheese and the whey is removed . The small amount of lactose that remains in the curd breaks down over time as the cheese ages, resulting in an aged cheese thats naturally lactose-free. So, cheeses that undergo this natural aging process like cheddar contain little to no lactose.
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