Artisan Vegan Cheese: From Everyday to Gourmet

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That said, Virgin offerings are organic and savory with the pleasing fatty mouthfeel that’s such an intrinsic part of traditional dairy cheese. Their individual and distinct characteristics — a mildly funky bleu, a salty, punchy French onion among others — bloom at room temperature or slightly warmed. Fresh from the fridge, however, they suffer from a certain sameness of flavor. Another high-end brand that tries to keep things organic and as pure as possible. They use live cultures (which are vegan, in case you were wondering) and cashew nuts to make their vegan cheese, some of which they age to accentuate the flavour. Vegusto

Inspired by traditional cheesemaking methods, Tyne Chease uses cashew nuts to create a creamy base with added probiotic cultures. Woman-owned, organic and small batch, Virgin’s a step up from Violife, but with that comes a step up in price and step down in easy availability. Get over it, you don’t mind spending more for an aged artisanal Laura Chenel goat cheese than a mass-produced supermarket brand. Feeling simply happy as you open the fridge and there it is - your favorite kind of creamy cashew cheese that goes so perfectly with your morning slice of toast or bread. Like Tyne Chease, Mouse’s Favourite also uses cashew nuts as a base with the addition of salt and cultures. By using almond milk as the main ingredient of their vegan-friendly cream cheese alternatives, Nush have produced a creamy and tasty product that is much lower in saturated fat than its rivals that use coconut oil. Available in Natural or Chive flavours, this will appeal to the more health conscious among you.They come in the following flavours: Spread Me Original, Spread Me with Red Peppers, Spread Me with Tomato & Basil, Spread Me with Mushrooms & Truffle, Spread Me with Cucumber & Dill (Tzatziki Style). Dairy feta cheese is a tough thing to replicate, but the following vegan versions are as close as you can get without having to get animals involved. Cheese Name/Brand What if there was a Simple Way to Enjoy the Richness of Cheese Again - Completely Plant-Based and Delicious? The VegNews nominee for best vegan artisanal cheese 2020 uses the same primary ingredients as Violife, but ages its cheeses, resulting in an altogether softer plant-based feta which barely budges when warmed. Why? No casein, the magical enzyme in animal milk that gives traditional dairy cheese its stretch and melt.

An Oxford University study showed that we could actually reduce global farmland by nearly 80% by switching to just growing crops rather than using land to produce animal protein. So there’s huge benefits, it’s not just carbon emissions; we’re talking about land use and water use. Another brand that has built up a reputation among vegans for producing products that taste like real cheese (though there is a lively debate about this in the various vegan forums out there). Unlike many of the brands mentioned here, Applewood also produce dairy cheeses. I Am Nut Ok creates tasty vegan alternatives to classic cheese varieties such as cheddar, parmesan, mozzarella, feta and ricotta. Note that there are lots of other flavoured cheeses produced by the more artisanal brands that we’ve included later in the article. These are the products that are often available in standard supermarkets. Cheese Name/BrandAsda have upped their game in recent times and now produce several vegan-friendly cheese options under their own-brand Free From label. At the time of writing these are: Soft Cheese Alternative, Garlic & Herb Soft Cheese Alternative, Garlic & Chive Cheddar Alternative, Grated Mozzarella Alternative, Sliced Mature Cheddar Alternative, Mature Cheddar Alternative. In our category of “flavoured cheese” we’ve included those to which ingredients have been added that flavour the cheese in a non-cheesy way (e.g. with peppers or chillies that are not used in conventional cheeses like standard cheddar) or which add texture in some way. Sainsbury’s have a few Free From vegan cheese options available and use similarly longwinded names for them as Tesco do. Their own-brand vegan cheeses include the following: Deliciously Free From Grated Cheddar-Style Coconut Base Alternative To Cheese (catchy, eh!), an alternative to soft cheese, a grated cheese and a Greek-style cheese. Unlike supermarket cheeses which are often made from oil, artisan vegan cheeses are typically made by culturing ingredients such as nuts to give them a more authentic, punchy flavour. With a selection of firm and cream cheeses to choose from, there’s something for everyone – even the fussiest of vegan-sceptics!

A parmesan-like vegan cheese that comes finely grated, this works well on risotto, pasta or other dishes. How to correctly build a cheese cave to let your cheese ripen - without having to buy any fancy storage box.

David Phillips

Launched in 2016, London-based cheesemaker Mouse’s Favourite offers a range of vegan cheeses in familiar flavours and textures. Nettle currently only has two varieties to choose from which are all fermented using live cultures and marinated in a blend of extra virgin olive oil and cold-pressed rapeseed oil. Speaking about the process, founder Gabrielle Le Cocq explained: “My approach is to keep the process as pure as possible – leaving it to the various fermentation cultures and processes to create a subtle variety of flavours rather than by adding extra flavours in.”