I'm curious as to exactly how you went about your taste test. Did you just slice pieces of cheese from the blocks and consume them, or did you taste the cheeses cooked on pizzas? I have done numerous tests of cheeses simply cut off the block and it has been my experience that I and others find very little real preference. The main difference I have found usually centers on the saltiness of the cheese, and even that might be influenced by the temperature of the cheese. Last summer, after reading CI's mozzarella taste test and comparing it to a test that was conducted by the Serious Eats/SLICE staff, I went out and purchased 1lb. bricks of Polly-O, Walmarts GV and Sorrento. I cut a piece from each and used my 21 year old daughter as my tester. Her choice....the Walmart GV mozzarella. I believe that some of these cheeses change drastically if they sit on the shelf for too long. I also believe that different markets might sell different grades of cheese. I buy Sorrento in 5 lb. logs at a restaurant supply business, and I find that cheese to be firmer and tastier then the Sorrento I buy in 1 lb. packages at the grocery store. I have also found that Sorrento ricotta cheese is produced using two different formulas, depending on the sale point of the product. I recently tried Grande for the first time, and although it is better then the cheeses already mentioned, I paid twice as much for it. I have another brand of mozzarella which I intend to try soon, Dragone, a former winner of CI's taste tests. I have also been very pleased with some deli sliced mozzarella's, including Boar's Head, Black Bear and Stella. Once again, these can sometimes cost twice what you would pay for the ordinary grocery store polly wrapped pound package.
