I can truthfully tell you that the majority of the time we purchase Sargento cheese in this house.  Why?  The reason is simple.  Flavor, nutrition and price.  I know that so many of you can relate to the fact that the minute your kids came around, what you ate became even more important than before.  Graham was not a huge milk drinker and we had to provide his dairy intake in other forms.  The main way was through cheese and Sargento was always a natural choice for us.  It is REAL cheese, not processed, which makes me feel better about feeding it to him.  We also discovered that it was a great choice when cooking because of the rich flavor.  But, the kicker has always been the price.  Comparatively speaking, the Sargento cheese has always been in a price range we can afford and compares well to the competitors.

All this to say that now I am even  more of a believer in real cheese once we held a small cheese tasting party at our house the other day.  A group of us got together to have our very own cheese tasting experience (minus the wine because we don’t drink) in order to find out more about processed vs. real cheese.  I can honestly say that it has been since elementary school since I have had a piece of processed cheese and had forgotten what they tasted like.  Boy was I in for a shock!

Here is how we compared the cheese (because we are professional cheese testers now…lol):

1. Look: If you have recently compared the look of processed and real cheese you will know that the differences are vast!  Together, we decided that the real cheese was darker in color with less of a glossy appearance.  One of our guests even pointed out that you could see the slice marks on the real cheese because it had been sliced from an actual block of cheese instead of melted and poured.

2. Touch: Just like looks, the way the two cheeses feel are very different.  It was pointed out at the taste testing that the processed cheese felt mushy or rubbery.  It was also very sticky compared to the harder texture of the real cheese.  When the cheeses were folded the processed cheese made a perfect bend and folded over.  The real cheese broke into two pieces in a very natural manner.  This is another thing I love about the Sargento brand because I buy the sliced cheese and break it into smaller pieces for the boys to eat. Davis loves it!

3. Smell: Again, it had been since elementary school since I had a piece of processed cheese, and this is what surprised me the most about it.  I honestly could not stand the smell or the processed.  One taste testing guest said it best when she said it was like smelly feet!  The stinky part probably comes from the fact that it is cooked milk.  Ugh.  The real cheese smelled like, well… cheese and had a fruity tone.

4. Taste: This is everyone’s favorite part!  Well, when it was the real cheese.  The processed cheese was described as having a rubber texture in the mouth with no taste to a salty taste.  The real cheese was said to have a fruity taste and just a slight salty flavor.  It goes without saying that the real cheese was quickly gobbled down along with the dried fruit.

Here is a fact I found quit disturbing.  Did you know that processed cheese often sits on store shelves for months without refrigeration before being sold?  I had no idea!  Something is just not right about that.  The Sargento cheese is cut directly from real block cheese and packaged immediately.  Whew.  I’m glad to know that the cheese my family has been eating is real!

So, when considering the back to school lunches coming up in just a few short weeks, keep all of this in consideration.  I know that I only want the healthiest option for my child and real trumps processed every time!


This post was sponsored by The Motherhood and Sargento. These are my honest opinions on the product. I do not post reviews on products I can not stand behind. Please see my Terms of Use for more info.


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