The Worst Cheese You'll Find At Aldi

The corner of an Aldi building with one logo on either side

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We’re no strangers to gathering and testing the various products that Aldi rolls out, whether they’re long-term staples or seasonal offerings. When there are dozens of coffees, meats, wines, breads, and more to choose from, we’re here to help you narrow it down to the best of the best. We recently embarked on a journey to rank 14 Aldi cheeses, because yes, Aldi has that many (and more), and determined that the borgonzola cheese couldn’t hold up against its tough competitors.

At first, the strange name drew us in. Borgonzola? A made-up word? Sort of, but it’s a real product, so we were interested in figuring out if it shared any similarities with the cheeses it’s technically a hybrid of: gorgonzola and brie. In reality, Aldi’s borgonzola cheese combines the worst parts of brie cheese with the worst parts of blue cheese, leading to a rubbery, sour, off-putting product. We found it pungent and bitter in the worst way, not at all the tangy goodness you’d expect from blue cheese. There’s no balance between flavors and a hard tilt towards acidic as opposed to sharp. All in all, the unique name and promise of cheese blends weren’t enough to keep this Aldi cheese out of the dog house.

What is borgonzola cheese?

A round of Aldi's borgonzola cheese on a wooden cutting board beside two slices of the cheese

Julia Duda/Tasting Table

Aldi’s borgonzola cheese is part of the Emporium Selection brand, Aldi’s private-label for cheeses. It’s sold in a 9-ounce round for about $4.95 with a description that says it’s made in the U.S., but, similar to gorgonzola cheese (which has an origin shrouded in legend), borgonzola is an Italian creation. Borgonzola is made through the combination of gorgonzola and brie cheese-making techniques, giving it a creamy, silky texture, and those traditional blue veins caused by penicillium roqueforti, which are typically found in gorgonzola cheese. It’s not an Aldi-exclusive creation and can be found manufactured by various other brands, such as Albert’s Leap and Eiffel Tower.

A good borgonzola cheese (so, not the one from Aldi) can be used similarly to gorgonzola, crumbled on salads or mixed into pastas and risottos. The normally spreadable texture makes it a smart addition to charcuterie boards, easily scooped up on crackers and/or pretzel sticks. Some people prefer borgonzola on sandwiches, lathered onto sourdough or Hawaiian rolls (or one of Aldi’s other 16 best breads), thanks to its ability to complement other ingredients. The texture of borgonzola also means that it melts fairly easily when exposed to heat, so some people enjoy adding it to steak sauces, stews, and various pasta sauces.