Cheese Review - Cotswold
Cotswold is the cheese that everyone likes but me.
Don't get me wrong; it's not a bad cheese. It's just that everyone I gave Cotswold to thought it tasted great and I couldn't get as excited about it as they did, except maybe the first time I tried it.
I was at the grocery store, and the guy at the cheese counter asked me if I'd like to try some Cotswold. "It's like creamy Cheddar, with onion and chives," he said. I'm always willing to try a new cheese, so my son and I had a small piece. It was really good, I thought. My son really liked it too. I almost bought some, but didn't because I already had too much cheese in my cart, and at home in my refridgerator.
The mememory of the taste kept coming back to me, and I began craving more. Two weeks went by, and it was slow at work so I took an early lunch to buy some Cotwsold and crackers. When I got back to my office, I let it warm up to room temperature, and cut myself a slice. It was good, but not as good as I rememebered.
I offered some to coworkers. All of them really liked it. "Really?" I asked. They all did. One of them compared it to sour cream and onion flavored potato chips. That gave me an idea. I tried some the next day on top of mashed potatoes. That was good too, but not great.
In my efforts to learn more about Cotwsold, I found this blog article about cotswold written by a Cotwsold cheese lover that puts the cheese on homemade pizzas. I haven't had homemade pizza for a while, and the idea of Cotswold on pizza sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a try as well.
By the time I made the pizza, half of my half-pound wedge had already been eaten, and my three sons all wanted to try it, and so I only had enough for about half a pizza. (My three sons loved it, by the way, leaving me with even less cheese.) So I made a pepperoni pizza with half Cotswold cheese and half store-brand factory Cheddar and low-moisture factory Mozzarella. The Cotswold side came out a little greasier than the Cheddar/Mozzarella side. But by far, pepperoni pizza is my favorite way to eat Cotwsold so far.
I would agree with my coworkers that Cotswold did remind me of sour cream and onion flavored potato chips, but less salty and more milky tasting. I'm not sure why I was so disappointed in this cheese and everyone else loved it. I like Cream Cheese with chives and onions, and maybe I was hoping for something more similar to that.
Cotswold gets semi-soft at room temperature, so if you buy some and want to shred it, (on pizza, for example) it is easier to shred straight from the refrigerator. And even though I liked it on pizza, I didn't like it any more than normal pizza cheeses and at 9 dollars for a half-pound wedge, it's a little expensive to put on pizzas.
But since everyone else seemed to like it so much, I would recommend Cotswold to at least try once in your life. I may buy it again to put on a cheese board in some future cheese tasting party since it does have a unique taste.
Comments
LayaBosh. 2013-06-07 22:48:11
We liked the cheese very much plan to buy it again
reply to LayaBosh.
CC 2013-08-04 16:45:46
I love Cotswold and buy it anytime I can find it in my travels. Best price found EVER is at Trader Joes...wish we had one in our town! Try it on a baked potato....YUMMY!
reply to CC
Lo Dees 2018-02-26 21:54:08
I got some Cotswold from https://www.gourmet-food.com/british-cheese/cotswold-cheese-1000263.aspx It was great when added to mashed potatoes!
reply to Lo Dees