With that in mind, I decided to undergo another cheese test (tough work, I know) to see how brand name cheeses compare to one another. For this test, I went to the Loblaws nearest my apartment in the West End of Toronto and picked up all the different types of mozzarella I could find.
I realize there is a difference between fresh mozzarella and bars of mozzarella, but to be perfectly honest, I have no idea what that actually is other than the visual aspect of it, so I just picked up everything and decided to run with it (I'm sorry in advance if this is some kind of cheese sin).
I tried each cheese on its own and then melted on some naan bread with pizza sauce and basil (a rustic margherita pizza, if you will) to test it both ways.
I'll be rating each cheese out of 5 in terms of how much I enjoyed it, and surprisingly, there were a few ties in this taste test.
Armstrong mozzarella slices
240 grams of sliced Armstrong mozzarella cheese slices from Loblaws for $6.49.
I appreciate that this Armstrong mozzarella comes pre-sliced (I'm lazy), that it has inserts between each slice to keep them from sticking together and that the package is resealable, but despite these conveniences, this was my least favourite mozzarella of the day.
When eaten straight from the package, it had a quite sharp and chalky flavour that I don't typically associate with this cheese, and when melted, it felt and tasted a little plastic-y and overall like it wasn't doing a whole lot for the faux pizza.
Rating: 2/5
Price: $6.49 for 240 grams
Price per 100 grams: $2.70
Cracker Barrel mozzarella slices
240 grams of Cracker Barrel mozzarella slices from Loblaws for $5.49.
Tied for second place is Cracker Barrel's sliced mozzarella.
I found it to have a nice sort of springiness that kind of reminds me of biting into cheese curds and in terms of flavour, it has a sort of cheddar-esque taste that I enjoyed.
Once melted, the cheddar flavour lessened and I found it to do its job of adding some texture and flavour to the sauce and bread, which is all you can really ask for.
Rating: 3/5
Price: $5.49 for 240 grams
Price per 100 grams: $2.29
Zerto pre-sliced fresh mozzarella
250 grams of Zerto pre-sliced fresh mozzarella from Loblaws for $10.99.
Like the Cracker Barrel cheese, I liked the pre-sliced mozzarella from Zerto but I wasn't in love with it.
On its own, it has a nice and bouncy but creamy chew and a soft milk flavour.
While I liked the taste, it was the slices I had an issue with — I found they were a little too thick for my pizza so it didn't quite melt properly. The convenience of pre-sliced things is nice, but having to reslice it is an extra step I'm not into, particularly given that this is the most expensive cheese on the list.
Rating: 3/5
Price: $10.99 for 250 grams
Price per 100 grams: $4.40
Black Diamond mozzarella
400 grams of Black Diamond mozzarella from Loblaws for $7.49.
Tied in first place for me are a bar of mozza and a ball of the fresh stuff.
By itself, this Black Diamond cheese tastes very strongly of cheddar to the point that I double-checked that what I was eating was in fact mozzarella.
But when melted, the cheddar-esque flavour disappeared entirely and it turned into a wonderfully ooey-gooey addition to my little pizza that made for the perfect complement to the naan, sauce and basil.
Perhaps this is a controversial take, but I like that it tastes like cheddar by itself and that it turns into proper mozzarella when melted; it feels like I'm getting the best of both worlds in terms of bold flavour while unmelted and a melty delight when put in the oven.
Rating: 4/5
Price: $7.49 for 400 grams
Price per 100 grams: $1.87
Galbani mozzarella fresca
227 grams of Galbani mozzarella fresca from Loblaws for $7.19.
And tied in first is the Galbani mozzarella fresca, which I enjoyed for an entirely different reason than the Black Diamond.
The flavour was light, bouncy and milky and had really pleasing striations that I could see being a delicious addition to my lunch salads or in a yummy calabrese.
In its melted form, it kept all of the pleasing flavours and also turned into a goopy delight.
Rating: 4/5
Price: $7.19 for 227 grams
Price per 100 grams: $3.17
Out of all the cheeses I picked up, Black Diamond worked out to be the cheapest per 100 grams, so that paired with the fact that it tied for first place in my ranking means it's the product I'm most likely to pick up if I'm in the market for some mozzarella as I can see myself getting the most use of it, both melted and unmelted.
However, if I was feeling a lil' fancy and looking to treat myself, I could see myself grabbing the Galbani mozzarella fresca if I was making a nice salad or having people over for drinks and snacks.
At the end of the day, all cheese is pretty good cheese, and any of these will get the job done — I just personally prefer the last two the most!
These prices are confirmed at the time of publishing, but they can change at any time. Taxes and fees may not be included.
