I recently got an email from the brand Kraft telling me about a new flavour of their Philadeliphia cheese. I was quite interested so had a look on the shelf at the supermarket the next time I was there. They didn't actually stock the flavour I wanted but I found this instead and thought I'd try it as it looked tasty and versatile. It is Light Philadelphia soft cheese in Sweet Chilli flavour.

I bought the cheese in a 200 gram sized tub. The brand have recently changed the design of the tubs and ever since I've found the lid a little difficult to replace after use. They call this design an improvement though as it allows the product to stay fresh for longer, apparantly. Under the lid is a protective foil label which you can either completely peel off or leave and unfurl before every use. The tub is printed very comprehensively with lots of information about the product. On the top of the tub there is an easy to read nutritional value chart which shows you the calorific value of the product as well as sugar, fat, salt and saturates levels. There is a more detailed chart on the bottom of the tub too as well as full ingredients and other infomation such as the 'suitable for vegetarians' stamp.

I love the flavour of chilli so much that I was really looking forward to tasting this. When I first saw the cheese I thought the colour reminded me of salmon mousse or hollandaise sauce. It's a pale peachy pink colour all over with flecks of dark red, yellow and pink through it. The cheese actually has tiny shreds of chilli peppers in it. After I tasted the cheese I could tell straight away that there were other ingredients in there and checked the ingredients list. The cheese actually also contains both pineapple and mango, both of which I can taste very strongly. Infact, I would say the cheese, overall, tasted of pineapple with an aftertaste of mild sweet chilli. It's not exactly what I thought it would be and to be honest I think the red chilli pepper design on the front of the pack is a bit misleading.

The cheese has a very nice texture and is smooth and creamy. The flecks of chilli, mango and pineapple are interesting with a slightly tougher texture but they are not so tough that it is unpleasant. Infact, the only thing that is really properly intact is the chilli bits. The mango and pineapple are just teeny pieces that you can't totally distinguish from the soft cheese. The cheese is lovely in a sandwich or on a crackerbread. I often like to put Philadelphia in dishes like pasta or couscous but I find the flavour of this one just too fruity to feel that I'd like it to be warm. Warm pineapple and mango just feels wrong to me!

This is a reduced fat product but it doesn't taste like it and the consistency of the cheese isn't thin or watery. After using the cheese doesn't become water-logged when in storage like some of these cheeses have a tendancy to do. The 'light' tag means that this cheese works out at 47 calories per 30g serving with 3.2 g of fat in that same portion.

I am a little dissapointed with this cheese but I can't fault it's quality overall. It has a very unique taste and I can't think of any brands that could produce similar cheeses of this complex flavour and quality. The reason I'm a little downhearted is because the cheese has a very distinctive fruity taste and particularly is strong in pineapple. I'm not too keen on pineapple and I probably wouldn't have bought this if I'd known the flavour was so strong. It's for this reason I don't find the cheese as versatile as I imagined it would be. I don't feel I'd like to eat this cheese any other way than spread cold. I will probably not buy this again but I think the concept of having flavoured soft cheese is excellent. I also love the creamy texture of Philly so I'm going to keep buying the original flavour and I'm also watering at the mouth thinking about the brand's new chocolate flavour cheese!

www.krafthealthyliving.co.uk