The opening of the new H-E-B on South Congress brought with it a vast expansion of offered products. Of the expansions, my favorite has been the store’s cheese section. I don’t know about you all, but I’m a massive fan of cheese; I’ll try new cheeses anytime, anywhere.
Therefore, this will be the first in a series of H-E-B cheese reviews by yours truly. Disclaimer: I’m basing all my price judgments on the perspective of a poor college student, and I have no professional experience with tasting cheeses. With that, please take all my recommendations with a grain of salt.
Today, we are starting with three cheeses: H-E-B’s Artisan imprint white cheddar, White Tie’s garlic & dill raw milk cheddar and Boar’s Head’s spring truffle pecorino.
To begin, the Artisan white cheddar is a very standard cheese – creamy, but not too creamy, with just a touch of sour on the back end. By itself, it was very run of the mill, but I bet it would make for a good macaroni and cheese or a deli meat sandwich. Coming in at around 8 ounces for $4.11, it’s a decent bang for your buck. Because of its absolute averageness, I give H-E-B’s Artisan white cheddar a 3.5 out of 5 goats.
Next, we have White Tie’s garlic & dill. I picked this cheese for its unorthodox flavor profile, and it came through. Surprisingly, the dill was the dominant flavor here, rather than the garlic. The garlic actually came in mostly in the aftertaste, which I rather enjoyed. Garlic’s tendency to overpower other flavors was neutralized here, which let me better appreciate the other flavors of this soft cheese. It does smell strongly of garlic, though, so beware. The combination of the rich dill and mellow cheddar with just notes of garlic was a novel and appreciated flavor. Priced at $6.98 for 6 ounces, it’s not a bad price for the fun flavor and texture. I’ll give this a 4 out of 5 goats.
Finally, we’ve got the Boar Head’s pecorino. If you’re a fan of block parmesan, you’ll like this one. A dry, flaky cheese, with an unexpectedly muted flavor. It has a taste reminiscent of parmesan, but with a slightly sour tang. However, unlike parmesan, this cheese is not richly flavorful, and has practically no aftertaste. I would wager that this cheese would do well on a pasta with a high-profile flavor, to serve as a supplement rather than competing for dominance like parmesan tends to do. However, $8.81 for 5 ounces is pretty pricey, so I recommend it only for special occasions or for those with expensive tastes. For these reasons, I’ll give the pecorino a 3 out of 5 goats.
“It’s too flaky, and it’s just too dry,” junior and guest taster of the week Deshawn King said. “I actually give this one 2 out of 5 goats.”
H-E-B’s cheese selection is impressive thus far. I have a good first impression. Please stay tuned for more of these reviews, with Hilltop Views staff cameos coming next week.
Is there as ‘gouda’ cheese as these?
