What do you look for when you buy ricotta cheese in the supermarket? Do you go for a national brand? A smaller regional or local brand? Or do you buy the supermarket's "generic" label? A 48-ounce tub of ricotta (enough to do a large pan of lasagna) can run up to ten dollars or so for a national brand, and even having a coupon doesn't always knock the price down to the level of a store brand. So what do you do?
Personally, I look at two things when I'm shopping for ricotta cheese. The first is the ingredient panel. There is no reason for ricotta cheese to contain anything except milk (whole or skim or a combination of both) a curdling agent such as lemon juice or vinegar, and salt. After all, if you were going to make it yourself, that's what you'd use.
After checking the ingredients, I look at the price tag. Given identical ingredients, I don't see a reason to pay a lot more for one brand over another. Most of the time, that leads me to buy the supermarket's house brand. Stop & Shop, for example, sells excellent ricotta much cheaper than most of the big brands. And at ShopRite, the difference can be even more startling - Sorrento brand ricotta cheese is double the price of ShopRite's private label.
This is a typical supermarket ricotta cheese display - in this case, at ShopRite in Enfield CT. There are several varieties to choose from: Sorrento, Biazzo, ShopRite's house brand, Polly-O, and Sam Malucci & Sons (a local brand made in Hartford CT.) Every one of these brands except one are made with the same ingredients: Milk, vinegar, and salt. The one brand that uses other ingredients? Polly-O, a product of the Kraft company. I never buy it - even when a coupon is involved - because I don't like the looks of the ingredient panel (pasteurized milk, whey, milkfat, salt, vinegar, guar gum, carrageenan, and xanthan gum.) The label says "all natural," and it's true that guar gum, carrageenan, and xanthan gum are indeed "natural" products. I just don't happen to agree with Kraft that they belong in cheese.
So...when you buy ricotta, are you brand-loyal or price-loyal?
This is a typical supermarket ricotta cheese display - in this case, at ShopRite in Enfield CT. There are several varieties to choose from: Sorrento, Biazzo, ShopRite's house brand, Polly-O, and Sam Malucci & Sons (a local brand made in Hartford CT.) Every one of these brands except one are made with the same ingredients: Milk, vinegar, and salt. The one brand that uses other ingredients? Polly-O, a product of the Kraft company. I never buy it - even when a coupon is involved - because I don't like the looks of the ingredient panel (pasteurized milk, whey, milkfat, salt, vinegar, guar gum, carrageenan, and xanthan gum.) The label says "all natural," and it's true that guar gum, carrageenan, and xanthan gum are indeed "natural" products. I just don't happen to agree with Kraft that they belong in cheese.
So...when you buy ricotta, are you brand-loyal or price-loyal?
You make a ton of excellent points. It does come down to flavor and what milk was used etc.
ReplyDeleteIs there a plant identification code on ricotta cartons?
ReplyDeleteI am a price girl, (for ricotta, sour cream and cream cheese) as long as the ingredients are what they should be.
ReplyDeleteThe Plant ID codes on ricotta cartons are usually with the "use by" date, but sometimes you'll find them near the ingredient panel or Nutrition Facts.
ReplyDeleteCheck out Calabro brand at BigWhy and Stop&Shop. No vinegar, cultures instead. Don't know if it is better or not in any way but seems to be the only one I could find like that.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have the options here at my Meijers in Michigan that you do. We have the Meijer brand, and I think two name brands. I want a full-fat ricotta and one without any funky, unknown ingredients. I usually end up getting the higher priced name brand because Meijer doesn't offer a store brand that's full-fat.
ReplyDeleteI'm buying cheese - why would I buy low-fat or no-fat (that's just an abomination).
I have a large family, so price is the usual determinant...but next time, I'll be sure to check out ingredients,,
ReplyDelete