Supermarket own-brand cheddar cheese has been named the best in the UK, beating popular brands like Cathedral City and Davidstow in a blind taste test conducted by Which?.
Tesco Finest Takes Top Spot
Tesco Finest Mature English Cheddar Cheese achieved a score of 78%, earning praise for its flavour and 'firm, smooth' texture. Testers commended its salt content and intensity of flavour, describing it as 'pleasingly crumbly and creamy'. Despite being an own-brand product, it is priced at £4 for 350g, which was described as 'about average price wise'.
Other Top Performers
Second place went to Davidstow Classic Cheddar with a score of 75%, though it was among the most expensive at £4.75 for 350g (£1.36 per 100g). It still earned a 'best buy' accolade from Which?.
M&S Cornish Cove Mature Cheddar Cheese (£4.25 for 350g) took third place, followed by Castello Tickler Mature Cheddar Cheese (£4.75 for 300g) in fourth.
Cathedral City Mature Cheddar (£3.50 for 350g) and Pilgrims Choice Mature Cheddar (£4.20 for 350g) tied for fifth place. Sainsbury's Barber's Mature Cruncher Cheese (£4 for 350g) and Aldi's Specially Selected West Country Mature Cheddar (£2.99 for 350g) secured sixth place. The Co-op's Irresistible Somerset Mature Cheddar Cheese (£4.50 for 340g) came last.
Own-Brands Outperform in Other Tests
This is not an isolated case. In another Which? blind taste test this year, two supermarket instant coffees outperformed well-known brands. M&S Gold Instant Coffee and Waitrose Gold Roast secured joint first position with a 70% customer rating, surpassing Nescafé, Kenco and Douwe Egberts. The M&S coffee performed strongly for flavour, aroma and appearance, while Waitrose excelled across all categories.
These results demonstrate that major brands do not always guarantee superior quality, and supermarket own-labels are increasingly winning over consumers in blind taste tests.
