Cheese: It's New
BY John J. Pierce

Sure, it's been around since the dawn of time, but there always seem to be new trends and new varieties to bolster the growth of store brands.

Mexican cheese for Mexican-Americans? It's a new store brand frontier for Western Family Foods, Tigard, OR, which is distributing a whole line of Quesas da Familia under the Shurfine brand for affiliates with a substantial immigrant population.

But the ethnic cheese niche is just one of many being tapped by store brand programs across the country. From brie at Kroger, Cincinnati, OH, to goat cheese at Trader Joe's, Monrovia, CA, retailers are going for the specialty items as well as the traditional favorites.

Kroger Private Selection brie and Trader Joe's goat cheese are two of the more exotic store brand items. Wal-Mart's Prima Della line includes crumbled gorgonzola, and Hannaford offers horseradish jack. Giant markets sliced colby jack deli cheese in colorful packages, while Wegmans has pepper jack in club packs. Shaw's puts wild berries and vanilla in cream cheese, and Big Y adds pineapple to cottage cheese.

Semi-soft panela, asadero, queso fresco and quesadilla in 12 oz packs are all part of the Shurfine Quesos de la Familia line. Asadero is probably the most familiar to Anglo shoppers, but only as an ingredient in shredded Mexican cheese. Yet one thing they have in common with more mainstream cheeses: they're all natural.

It Keeps Growing...

Americans increased their per capita consumption of cheese from 23 pounds in 1985 to 31 pounds in 2003, according to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB), a dairy-farmer-funded organization that promotes Wisconsin Cheese nationally. By 2013, analysts say, it will reach 33 pounds. One of the biggest factors, the WMMB says, is the perception that cheese is a "natural" food.

Cheese is among the largest categories of all for store brands. C&S Wholesale Grocers, Keene, NH, lists some 160 SKUs under the Best Yet brand alone. Dollar volume, as recorded by Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), Chicago, IL, for the 52 weeks ended 10/31/2004 was $1.330 billion for natural cheese, $457 million for processed cheese, $309 million for cottage cheese and $218 million for cream cheese.

Natural cheese is where the growth is, according to IRI. And the WMMB reports a boom in specialty natural cheeses-the most popular being feta, blue, super-aged parmesan, aged provolone, asiago, gouda, fontina, havarti and Hispanic types. Production of such items in Wisconsin itself was up eight percent last year, and budding developments include artisan, farmstead (produced on the farm) and pasture-grazed cheeses.

Quality and Value

Even in processed cheese, there is a greater emphasis on quality, as witness a pitch by Wegmans, Rochester, NY, for its new white and yellow American cheese: "Enjoy a real American cheese made in Wisconsin for a smooth, creamy texture and great flavor-mildly sharp, yet distinctive. We think you'll love how it slices paper-thin and melts perfectly for grilled cheese sandwiches and so much more. Check the ingredients list, and you'll know why simple is best when it comes to a great cheese."

Imitation cheese, surprisingly, is showing a burst of growth-up 76.1%, although from a small base. This is probably due to the advent of products like imitation shredded cheddar under the Valu Time economy brand from Topco Associates, Skokie, IL, aimed at shoppers who aren't doing well during the present state of the economy. This is at the same time that Topco is appealing to more affluent consumers with its World Classics brand, which features items like a fancy shred four-cheese blend (mozzarella, provolone with smoke flavor, parmesan and romano) under the Cucina d'Italia sub-brand.

When it comes to shelf-stable parmesan and other grated cheeses, the major trend right now is replacing composite cans with plastic bottles. Wal-Mart, Bentonville, AR, has done that with its Great Value brand; so has Albertsons, Boise, ID-but the latter was sticking to cans for the 3 oz size as opposed to the 8 oz size at press time. Albertsons also offers both grated and shredded parmesan in 5 oz refrigerated cups at $2.99 under its Essensia premium brand. That's about 57.8 cents an ounce, versus about 41.1 cents for its first line dry grated.

Variety's the Spice

Flavored cream cheese has been around for years, but Shaw's, West Bridgewater, MA, has found a new flavor-wild berries and vanilla. Nearby Big Y, Springfield, MA, has put pineapple in its cottage cheese. Albertsons offers a more traditional item, but one uncommon in store brands: pimento cheese spread. "In 2005, look for trendy chefs' new ham and cheese with combination prosciutto or serrano ham," advises the WMMB, but Safeway, Pleasanton, CA, already has a mozzarella-prosciutto cheese roll as part of its Primo Taglio deli cheese line under the Safeway Select banner.

String cheese as a healthy snack for kids is all over the country in private label, but under the Lucerne brand Safeway has complemented mozzarella string cheese with snack sticks of pepper jack and colby jack. Unlike string cheese, at least at stores visited by Private Label, these are available only singly rather than in multi-packs. At the opposite end in the convenience scale, Wegmans offers sharp and extra sharp cheddar, monterey jack and pepper jack cheeses in 32 oz club packs.

Goat cheese is big in France, but you wouldn't know it from the American flag on Trader Joe's brie de chevre, which retails for $3.80 and is part of a Cheeses of the World collection at the specialty chain. Kroger doesn't put a flag on its brie and camembert cheeses, which come in arty wooden containers and retail for $3.99 but were on sale at two for $7 recently.

In the deli cheese realm, meanwhile, some retailers are moving their lines from the deli section to the regular cheese section. Giant Food, Carlisle, PA, part of Ahold USA, now has an 8 oz deli-style line in colorful packaging that includes colby jack and longhorn colby as well as swiss, mozzarella, provolone and muenster. Prices range from $1.99 to $2.49. Kroger includes havarti in its deli-style cheeses, line priced at $2.39.

Cubed cheese is on the decline, according to IRI, but apparently not everywhere. Giant offers cubed colby jack, pepper jack and mild cheddar at $1.99 an 8 oz. bag, while Food Lion, Salisbury, NC, has come out with a mix of cubed cheddar and monterey jack. Wal-Mart has had cubed mild cheddar, pepper jack and Monterey jack under its Great Value brand for some time.

Left: Topco appeals to both the premium and the economy market with World Classics four-cheese blend and Valu Time imitation cheddar shred. Kroger offers fancy shredded pepper jack, while Food Lion mixes cheddar and monterey jack cubes. Pepper jack and colby jack snack cheeses are under Safeway's Lucerne brand, while Wal-Mart repackages its grated parmesan in plastic bottles.

A Primer on Hispanic Cheese

California is the largest producer of Hispanic cheese, with production having more than doubled in the past 10 years from 34.8 million pounds to 82.3 million pounds, according to the Contra Costa Times.
Mainstream retailers-as well as mainstream consumers-may be unfamiliar with the variety of Hispanic cheeses.

• Queso Blanco Fresco, or fresh, white cheese, is firm yet moist. It holds its shape when heated. For that reason, it is also called queso para freir, or frying cheese.
  
  
• Queso Blanco is a more aged version of queso blanco fresco and is similar to Monterey Jack.
  
  
• Queso Fresco is, as its English translation implies, a fresh cheese. Like queso blanco fresco, it does not melt when heated and is usually used as a crumbling cheese. You'll often find it over salads and enchiladas, but uses extend to shrimp, black beans or casseroles.
  
  
• Panela is a pressed, low-moisture cheese that's mild-tasting with a smooth texture. Panela is best sliced rather than crumbled. It lends itself to cooking, especially fried and drizzled with olive oil and herbs.
  
  
• Cotija is a dried cheese in that it gets its dry, crumbly texture from being pressed and salted. It tastes very similar to a cow's milk feta cheese and is quite versatile in the kitchen. It's wonderful sprinkled over black beans, but it's also great in salads, (including Greek salads for a little cross-cultural experience at the dinner table). Cotija añejo is even drier, and can be grated. Some stores sell it in grated form.
  
  
• Oaxaca is, in effect, braided mozzarella. Like mozzarella, Oaxaca is a stretched curd cheese. As the curds form in the warm water, they are literally stretched-and, in the case of Oaxaca, braided-while they're still warm and pliable. Oaxaca can be used in exactly the same way as mozzarella, whether in a quesadilla, or sliced with tomato and basil.