What's going on with cheese?

[ilovebagpuss]

So sorry, to ask such a dull question but I can't take it anymore. Why is all cheddar suddenly disgusting slimy blocks of plastic cheese? OK I'm not talking M&S but Sainsburys, Aldi and Lidl "extra mature" is all disgusting.
I've spent about 3/4 quid on a block and it's too foul to eat. It's not off or mouldy its just non tasting rubber.
Can anyone explain why this is? Shortage of something ?

Coastal cheddar is delicious
Also the Lidl Wensleydale (won Gold at Nantwich cheese show which is a big deal)

Waitrose no 1 Cornish quartz and M&S Cornish cruncher are proper cheddars, I only buy those

Waitrose no1 Cornish quartz cheddar is on offer at the moment for £2 down from £3.25, I got a couple of packs in

I'm partial to a dish of grated cheese with a splash of milk and cooked under the grill until bubbling and browned.
The last few times, it's been a dish of oily disappointment.
It doesn't even grate properly, I end up trying to grate lumps that have broken off in the process.
I too, would like to know what the heck they've done to cheese.

This thread made me really hungry so just cut myself some wyke's vintage reserve and it is good, no weirdness going on with that, but at 5 euros for 200g I'm not buying it often!

I love Wyke's vintage (not come across vintage reserve) but not seen it for at least six months now. Used to get it in Home Bargains.

I think it's the packaging. Most cheese seems to be shrink-wrapped now, so the packaging is in very close contact with the cheese. I suspect that plasticisers in the wrapping, which make it soft and flexible, leach into the cheese and change the texture, particularly the high fat varieties.

It depends on the quality of milk, pasture-fed cows produce the best milk.

Look at the ingredients list on the packet. Have they added milk powder or colouring?

Real cheddar is made with milk, and maybe cream, plus culture, calcium chloride and enzyme {modern form of rennet), and salt, but it is more expensive.

Surely milk, salt, enzyme and culture?

There is presumably an optimal amount of fat in the milk, but it's still milk rather than milk and cream, surely?

I am an ex-farmer. It shouldn't really be anything to do with the dry summer. Cows don't graze the fields in winter so the quality drop would be noticed every winter if that was the case. It's much more likely to be the switch to vegetarian rennet of some sort of something similar to do with added ingredients like preservatives.

Wyke is lovely for cheese on toast.
I buy lidl or aldi grated mature which is Lockerbie ch

The majority of cheddars and hard cheeses in the supermarket are made with vegetarian rennet these days, and have been for a long time. It would be quite unusual to find a cheddar that isn't vegetarian if buying from the supermarket.

I guess maybe it could be a change in the type of vegetarian rennet used though?

A few years ago we used to buy the Asda hard cheese alternative (as traditional parmesan isn't vegetarian, but this one is). All of a sudden it started tasting gross, a strange waxy taste almost like it had a hint of paint in it. Was still marked as vegetarian, but something definitely changed. We had to start getting the Morrisons version instead.

Ok so I've made a cottage pie today with cheese on top
Old pic, and today's and I always cook it the same, same oven, same temp
The cheese is melting but it's not browning/crispy at all no matter how long I was leaving it for

Oh god, that does not look very appetising

I know! I mean I did everything I usually do, and I have a chef blowtorch thing so I experimented to see if that would brown it
Nope
Annoying. It doesn't taste too bad but the cheese definitely isn't right (it's not off or anything, it's a new pack of extra mature cheddar)

That is very disappointing. I made pizzas the other day and that cheese was fine at least

Blimey! You sure that's not porridge!

No, joking aside. What is wrong with our cheese!

@Slig it wasn't even bubbling properly
The oven is fine, the grill is fine, the only thing it can be is the cheese
Luckily i was batch cooking so it didn't need to look too appetising but still..
was Tesco extra mature cheddar

Nobody has come back to me from either Lidl or Wyke Farm and I sent pictures of the cheese and batch number etc.
It says online that cheese won't brown up if it has a high moisture and oil content, so it has to be something they are adding in fairly recently.

I've been reading more about the manufacture process and my money is on the amount of salt being reduced to meet arbitrary nutrition targets. That would result in a wetter cheese that doesn't melt and bubble properly.

That's interesting @PickAChew ,something to do with osmosis ?

@PickAChew That is interesting and would be a very plausible explanation.

Ah looks like we have the answer. I also heard about the pellets they are fed are changed.Russia used to supply lot of the ingredients for the usual ones.
but totally makes sense.as bigger cheeses for supermarkets etc won’t stop production so it will be sub par products.very sad

Can anyone recommend one that still tastes good that I can get in Aldi/Sainsburys?
I love strong cheddar when it has the salt crystals and my poor cottage pie deserves to look better!
I'm going to Aldi this week so happy to try and report back

Davidstow still delicious and salty, and not rubbery at all. Sainsburys usually have it.