Best Supermarket Cheese: No Clear Winner

Supermarket Cheese: From Alcampo's Roquefort to Raw Milk

A Roquefort from Alcampo and an Old Amsterdam from Lidl. These two names come up most often when people look for the best supermarket cheese without leaving the big store. Beyond that, agreement breaks down: some champion Mercadona's cured cheese drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, others warn that certain private-label cheeses are "loaded with additives," and a third group dismisses the whole idea with, "cheese isn't bought in a supermarket." The question seems trivial, but it has gone unanswered for over three years.

The Most Common Names on the Shelf

The list is varied and highly dependent on the chain. Besides Alcampo's Roquefort and Lidl's Old Amsterdam, frequently mentioned are La Cava Barus sold at DIA, Boffard, Flor de Esgueva, Entrepinares' goat cheese at Mercadona, and Lidl's divirin and añejo Roncero for those who look at price before the label. Three references from El Corte Inglés are also cited: Dehesa de los Llanos semi-cured Manchego, Artzai Gazta's smoked shepherd's Idiazabal, and Fuerteventura's Maxorata semi-cured goat cheese. None of this forms a ranking. It forms a list of personal tastes where everyone champions their own.

Do Private-Label Cheeses Contain Additives?

The most thorny point is additives. Some maintain that Mercadona cheeses, and specifically Entrepinares, are loaded with additives, recalling that they didn't used to contain any. The rebuttal came quickly: those additives would be in the rind, not the cheese paste, so the problem boils down to whether one eats the rind or cuts it off. There are no laboratory analyses in the conversation, only labels read standing in the store. And one recommendation is repeated: the shorter the ingredient list, the better.

Raw Milk, Rennet, and the Artisan Argument vs. Industry

The strictest group argues that the best cheese is always raw milk, artisan, and well-aged, and that the rest are inferior dairy products. As an example of a supermarket cheese, they cite Hacendado's strong and dry aged sheep cheese, made with raw milk. On the other side, market experience: aged in butter, locally made picón (a type of blue cheese), and fresh cheese made at home with freshly milked sheep's milk. It's a classic standoff between the chain's stable assortment and the stall's seasonal product, and neither side gives way.

Price: Cheese is Becoming a Luxury Item

Here, there seems to be more agreement. There's talk of inflated prices and that cheese is becoming a luxury item, with the classic complaint that the supermarket is no longer the cheap option. The defense relies on value for money: Aldi and Lidl are mentioned as chains offering decent cheeses without the prices of other aisles, especially for imported aged cheeses. Furthermore, availability varies greatly by region: what's available in a small neighborhood shop is nothing like the section in a large supermarket.

No one has put a number on the table. Not a price per kilo, nor a comparison of ingredients between the two major chains. Between Alcampo's Roquefort and the market's butter-aged cheese, there are over three years of conversation, dozens of recommendations, and not a single winner recognized by all. The best supermarket cheese, to this day, remains the one that tastes best to each individual.