Switching to a plant-based diet can be difficult with products like dairy cheese around, something that most of us crave and grew up with. Who didn’t love mac and cheese, and grilled cheese sandwiches as a child? Or pairing cheese with wine as an adult? Unfortunately, dairy products bring more harm to the environment than good. As discussed in a previous post, the carbon footprint of animal agriculture and the dairy industry is enormous. As well, the living conditions and treatment the dairy cows endure are not acceptable. Thankfully there are some amazing companies creating plant-based products that will help us keep savoury treats like cheese in our lives without so many consequences. I have put some of these products to a vegan cheese taste test and with the help of some major cheese lovers. I have also provided a DIY recipe for vegan cheese for those that want to keep plastic waste to a minimum.
The vegan cheese products we tested are:
- Daiya cheddar slices
- Applewood smoked white cheddar
- Violife cheddar slices
- Parmela creamery sliced smoked gouda
- Daiya swiss-style slices
- Blue heron herb and garlic
The vegan cheese Taste Test: products
In choosing which vegan cheeses we would try, I approached it from accessibility and products within my price range. Living within Vancouver, I travelled to 3 local grocery stores and purchased vegan cheeses that were somewhat similar in flavour. There are so many more vegan cheeses on the market, and this vegan cheese taste test certainly didn’t have a look at all of them.
Daiya cheddar slices
One of the vegan cheeses I included in this taste test is Daiya cheddar cheese. This is a local brand, that I am personally very familiar with and that has a range of products available. I chose their pre-sliced cheddar for convenience. This vegan cheese is also great for people who are allergic/intolerant to soy, peanuts, gluten, or animal proteins.
Ingredients: Filtered Water, Potato Starch, Coconut Oil, Expeller Pressed: Canola and/or Safflower Oil, Tricalcium Phosphate, Vegan Natural Flavors, Salt, Pea Protein, Xanthan Gum, Lactic Acid (Vegan), Konjac Flour, Fruit and/or Vegetable Juice Color, Annatto Color, Yeast Extract, Vegan Enzyme, Vitamin B12.
Applewood vegan
I found Applewood vegan cheese at a small local grocery store, and I haven’t been able to find it anywhere else. It interested me as Applewood isn’t an entirely plant-based company, in fact, this appears to be their only vegan option. Applewood is the first cheese brand in the UK to launch a vegan cheese product. This product comes as a block and is also very friendly to those with allergies and intolerances. It is free from dairy, soy, lactose, and gluten.
Ingredients: Water, Coconut oil, Potato Starch, Modified Maize Starch, Yeast Extract, Reduced Sodium Sea Salt, Natural Flavouring, Carrageenan, Calcium Phosphate, Smoke Flavouring, Calcium Chloride, Carotenes, Paprika, Vitamin B12.
Violife vegan cheddar style slices
Violife has an incredible background story and is really bringing some awesome new products to the shelves. This product is 100% vegan and free of dairy, lactose, soy, nuts, and preservatives.
Ingredients: Water, Coconut oil (23%), Modified Starch*, Starch, Sea salt, Cheddar flavour, Olive extract, Colour: (Paprika extract, B-Carotene), Vitamin B12.
Parmela Creamery plant-based smoky gouda style
Parmela creamery uses cashews to make its cheeses. Their cheese process is similar to traditional methods, where they culture the cashew milk and also age it. This product might be in limited supply, as it is currently not on their website. But, you can find many other options to try out yourself. Of course, this product isn’t for those with a nut allergy.
Ingredients: Nutmylk (Water, Cashews, Coconut Oil, Modified Potato Starch, Potato Starch, Natural Flavours, Sea Salt, Liquid Smoke, Konjac, Potato Protein, Xanthan Gum, Lactic Acid, Annatto Extract (colour), Yeast Extract, Cultures
Daiya swiss style plant-based slices
With the wide variety of Daiya cheese products available, I decided to add Daiya swiss-style to the vegan cheese taste test. This product is pre-sliced and is also 100% vegan and free of all common allergens including gluten.
Filtered water, Potato starch, Coconut oil, Expeller pressed: canola and/or safflower oil, Tricalcium phosphate, Salt, Vegan natural flavours, pea protein, Xanthan gum, Lactic acid (vegan), Concentrated pumpkin juice (colour), Konjac flour, Yeast extract, Vegan enzyme.
Blue Heron herb and garlic vegan cheese
This product was added into the mix to spice things up a bit. Blue heron in Vancouver creates incredible artisanal plant-based cheeses, that are definitely more for the adult cheese connoisseur. They utilize the microbial fermentation and ageing process to develop some exquisite flavours. This herb and garlic style we tested has a mixture of herbs and even marigolds to create a unique flavour.
Ingredients: Cashews, Cultures, Herbs, Marigold, Garlic powder, Salt. Contains nuts. May contain chickpea protein.
The vegan cheese taste test results
The first thing to address is the panel of vegan cheese taste testers. Of course, it wouldn’t be fair to have all vegans tasting the products or even all non-vegans. So I asked an omnivore as the first taste tester, someone who consumes a plant-based diet but also occasionally eats dairy and animal products. The second taste tester is primarily plant-based but has an exceptional palette for cheese and the like. The third taste tester is my nephew, a 3-year-old who loves cheese, and provided the “kid approval”. And lastly, taste tester number 4, a vegan (me) who is a loyal customer within the vegan cheese market.
We tested each product (blind) and scored each on which we liked the best, and would actually buy and consume. We assessed the flavour, and the texture and gave each a score from 1-6 (least favourite to most favourite). I later assessed how well each cheese melted, because as we all know, gooey cheese is a must! The price is also included for each product for your reference.
Vegan cheese taste test: top 3 picks
The winner is ….Daiya swiss-style vegan cheese. All 4 taste testers quite enjoyed its mild swiss flavour and cheese-like texture. This cheese melted very well and was a reasonable price. The second most popular cheese was the Applewood vegan smoky cheese. This cheese had an incredible smoky white cheddar flavour and a great texture. For people that are not fond of smoky flavours, it is certainly not for them and might be too much flavour for kids to enjoy. This cheese melted incredibly and was the most stringy when melted out of all brands. The price was a little more expensive, and it isn’t available at many stores. In third place was Daiya cheddar. This cheese was really liked by all and had the most flavour in terms of what we were expecting for orange cheddar cheese. Again, great price, definitely kid-approved and melted really well.
Last but certainly not least
In 4th and 5th places were Violife cheddar and Parmela gouda. We found that Violife lacked a bit in flavour compared to the top 3, this would be a great option for those looking for a mild-tasting cheese. Parmela gouda had a light smoky and buttery flavour, which we found to be very interesting, but a little too overpowering for one of the taste testers. Both of these products melted very well, and both were approved as kid-friendly cheeses.
Last up, and also in 5th place was Blue heron cheese, and not because it wasn’t delicious. This cheese had such an incredible flavour going on. We all thought it reminded us of dill pickles and was very nutty. I personally thought this was sensational, but the flavours were a little too overwhelming for others. This would be a great cheese for an adult wine and cheese party. In my opinion, the incredible dill flavours would be superb with an earthy Pinot Noir. This cheese is also a softer and aged cheese and wasn’t really for melting, but to be enjoyed as is. In fact, stay tuned for a blog post devoted to Blue heron cheeses and some vegan wines that I have paired with it.
From this vegan cheese taste test, we found some amazing products that I will personally be using again. Importantly, all the products we tested were incredible, and I definitely suggest giving them all a try yourself!
DIY vegan Mozzarella
For those out there that are looking to reduce their plastic waste, each of the products we tested came wrapped in plastic, except for Blue heron. Here is a super simple vegan cheese recipe that you could make at home and without any plastic waste. I found this recipe at thehiddenveggies.com, and among some other recipes I tried, this one really worked out well! I found that the garlic and nutritional yeast really give a depth of cheezy flavour, but it may be too much for some. Next time, I would probably only use 1 tbsp of nutritional yeast and half the garlic powder. This recipe took me 6 minutes and I just left it to set in the fridge for at least 3 hours before serving. Watch the video for all the ingredients and steps to make this cheese.
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Brittany Goldhawke
Brittany Goldhawke has a B.Sc. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of British Columbia. She worked in research with yeast for over 5 years, for environmental, food, and beverage purposes. Brittany also has extensive experience in winemaking and has a WSET level 3 certification in Wine. Brittany likes to write about microbes and their benefits to the environment, sustainable living, and of course eco-friendly wine and food products.