Saint Illtyd and More

We tried a bunch of new cheeses from Trader Joe's last month that we haven't gotten around to posting about, so here's a quick run-through of our ratings.

Za'atar Chèvre

M's quick review: I was expecting a strongly seasoned goat cheese since za'atar was in the name, but the flavoring here was really light. According to TJ's, the goat cheese had salt, sumac, marjoram, oregano, and thyme, but all I really tasted was a little oregano and maybe thyme. I liked it because I like chèvre, but it didn't seem that different from the regular herb chèvre at the store.

M's rating: 7/10

Buy again? Maybe, if it were the same price as the other herb chèvre. Don't think it's necessarily more special than that one.

A's quick review: I was excited about this cheese because I like chèvre, and I also like the flavor of za'atar. It has a mildly herbal and mildly tart flavor, but none of that came through with this. I got a hint of herbs, but it really tasted just like chèvre.

A's rating: 7/10

Buy again? Eh, it's a good enough chèvre, but it's not special enough to warrant paying more than a regular chèvre.

Saint Illtyd

M's quick review: Cheddar cheese with garlic, white wine, and parsley sounds like a perfect cheese to me, and this cheese, handmade in Wales, was excellent. The cheese was really creamy, much softer than I thought it would be, and the flavor was fantastic. You could definitely taste the garlic, the wine, and the parsley. We ate this plain, but I could see this being really good in a grilled cheese.

M's rating: 9.5/10

Buy again? I'm really trying to eat less cheese, but yes, absolutely (although there may not be any left on our next visit since it was a spotlight cheese).

A's quick review: This was one of the better cheeses we've gotten from Trader Joe's. It's relatively soft and comes packed with garlicky herbal notes. I didn't get a ton of the wine flavor, but it had enough of the other flavors listed to more than make up for it. I really enjoyed this cheese.

A's rating: 9/10

Buy again? Yes, as many times as M will allow us to.

Jarlsberg Lite

M's quick review: We got this cheese for the garlic challenge, where it was really good on the garlic bread, but we only used about half of it there. To finish it off, we ate the rest of it for the charcuterie challenge (post coming at some point soon hopefully). I didn't like it as much on its own. I think for me this cheese is best used in cooking and not eaten plain.

M's rating: (plain) 5/10

Buy again? For garlic bread, sure.

A's quick review: It wasn't anything special on its own. It's basically swiss cheese, and swiss cheese is actually one of my less liked cheeses. It's good for sandwiches and for the garlic bread we bought it for, but I'm not a huge plain swiss cheese fan.

A's rating: 5/10

Buy again? For cooking/baking? Sure. To eat plain? Meh.