Viby, Denmark-based Arla Foods, with its U.S. corporate office in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, recently talked to The Shelby Report about some of Arla’s new products.
Castello Burger Blue is packaged slices of blue cheese.
“It’s hard to produce blue cheese, but we found a very good way of doing it,” said Omar Moreno, business development manager for Arla Foods USA. “As far as our blue cheese slices, we are the only company in the world that has found a way to slice blue cheese. There are no additives. It’s the same formula as the wheel, just in a sliced form.”
Although blue cheese is known to crumble, Moreno said Arla’s cheese slices stay intact.
“The only recommendation I ever give to people on the slices is that if you pull it right out of the fridge and try to peel it off the leaf, it will crack as blue cheese is known to crumble,” Moreno said. “But if you let it sit out at room temperature for five to 10 minutes, then slap it right on a burger or a steak, it melts very well.”
Arla, the fourth largest dairy company in the world, is also the largest producer of butter. Lurpak, an Arla brand, is the No. 1 butter in the world, Moreno said.
“It beats the Irish butter, and it’s won competitions on it,” he said. “The only reason it beats it is we have 84 percent fat content and the Irish butter, I believe, has 83 percent. So we beat it by 1 percent. The more fat the better. And it’s wonderful.”
Moreno also talked about Castello’s cheese crisps. While competitors grab the ends of the cheese and put it together to make their cheese crisps, he said Castello grabs a cube of cheese, presses it down, dehydrates it and then bakes it.
“If you see some of a different coloration, it’s just wherever it sits in the oven. You always get a nice crunch to it,” he said. “It’s great for soups and salads. I’ve been hearing it’s great for Bloody Marys, too.”
He said the company is coming out with a two-and-a-half pound bag more centered toward foodservice.
Also new are the Gouda and Havarti snacks. “This is again grab and go for people who are just trying to go keto friendly, gluten free. It’s a phenomenal product. It’s just a small version,” Moreno said.
For more information, visit arlausa.com.
