Top 8: Supermarket cheddars put to the taste test for school lunches

"With children’s lunches in mind, we included some mild, inexpensive, and pricier vintage cheeses in this week's selection."

Cheese: a universal favourite.

Cheddar cheese makes the best of Irish milk and is loaded with nutrients. A 100g portion supplies more than our daily requirement of calcium, half the protein we need, almost half the zinc and vitamin A, two-thirds of our vitamin B12, one-fifth of selenium, a quarter of the iodine and a fifth of the folate needed by pregnant women. 

While we think about the benefits of bone-building calcium, let’s not forget the benefit of protein (also found in eggs, meat, fish and many pulses and nuts), keeping hunger to a minimum from meal to meal. Once curdled with rennet or a vegetarian culture, most cheddar has nothing but a little salt added and some natural colouring.