BristolUK

Ah ha, so that's why so many of you "more money than sense types" don't like to save money.

You mistakenly believe the savings are on cheap "supermarket" type brands.

It may not be Häagen-Dazs, but they're not el cheapo brands either. They are simply big reductions on the normal prices. But if you're not interested, that's up to you.

As for cheese, do you really need the best cheese for making a sauce, Lasagna or a toastie? Not all cheese has to be consumed with the finest wine.

dbd33

Certainly making cheese-toast demands the best available cheese. I prefer the seven year white cheddar from the Olympic stand in the St. Lawrence market but, in a pinch, will use locally obtained cheddar. There's usually enough of the seven year kicking around to populate the next lasagne though, if there's the need to buy cheese for that specific purpose, I'll just go to Loblaws. Traditionally I'd feed any remaining bits of the supermarket cheese to the dog though lately Loblaws' Extra Old Cheddar has tended to give him the shits. Whether this is due to a shift in the cheese ingredients or a change in the dog's metabolism I can't say.

I fear that you mistake me for a food snob. It's not the case. Why just last evening I ordered a round of Rhubarbtinis without even thinking to check the organic certification, if any, of the rhubarb constituent.

fledermaus

I don't understand why excellent mature English cheddar is only aged for 18-24 months and yet Canadian cheddar has to sit around for 7 years. Does your cheese knowledge cover this point?

iaink

I dont think excellent canadian chedar does have to sit around for 7 years... "extra old" here is something like two years. Old is 15-18 months.

dbd33

Nope. My cheese knowledge is based on picking up random chunks of the stuff at the market and struggling to remember the names of the ones that were really good or really bad. How the cheese gets to the market is a mystery to me though I believe it relates to cows or sheep or goats or udder animals.

fledermaus

Nah, they sell 4 year old and more in the local store that's still not the crumbly cheddar effect. It's OK but not salty, sharp, bring the ridges on the roof of your mouth stuff. One day when I'm at the cheese factory I'll ask them.

Udder,,

iaink

I guess its driven by what the customers want. I dont really like the really tangy crumbly stuff myself. I have found it locally though, I think it was a 2 year old Maple Dale or something like that. It won an award IIRC.

fledermaus

Ah, I'll look out for that. Balderson's 5 year old is good and crumbly.

iaink

Will you be off to Picton then?
http://cheeseloverca.wordpress.com/t...eese-festival/

Upon reflection it might have been a 5 year old MapleDale cheddar. dbd probably doesnt shop at NoFrills, so may have missed the opportunity to try it

fledermaus

Ah sadly no, work calls that weekend. There is good cheese shop in Picton though, thanks for the reminder.

Meanwhile back to food prices....

Londonuck

I used to shop at Waitrose... now, Lidl

Finest Cheese at the mo... Cornish Cruncher from Marks. Absolute mouldy heaven

fish.01

Not going to tell them why the cost is currently so high?

scrubbedexpat133

I was back home for the 1st 3 weeks of April and must admit that it was nice to go and buy the cheese that I like instead of looking at whats on offer - I refuse to buy the rubber rubbish that passes for cheddar here. Not because Im a snob but just dont see the point as I dont tend to cook with cheese.

I used to love going to the farmers markets around Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire on a sunday morning and buying the local varieties

You can buy mature Canadian cheddar in tesco for about half the price you can here

iaink

I got 500g of 6 year old maple dale for $6 the other day. Good cheese, good price.

Maybe i am lucky to be in the Ontario dairy belt, but within a short drive I can take in the Maple Dale, Empire and Black River cheese factories (and the Black Diamond plant too, but the least said about that the better!)

canadian_critic

It's ok they do weight loss drugs in bulk too, to make up for it