Melting vegan cheese made with pea protein. Cheezly's dairy-free range is now pretty extensive and Redwood even cater for those who wish to avoid soya too. Most home-made vegan cheeses are made from nuts, but the commercial stuff is invariably made with some kind of soy. If you are avoiding soy for whatever reason the options are limited. We tried out Redwood's soy-free option to see if it's on a par with their regular Cheezly.
Out of the pack the soy-free Cheezly looks and tastes just like any other block of Cheezly. We grated some and the texture is identical to regular Cheezly... that's to say a little softer and wetter than dairy cheese. The flavour is also the same as regular Cheezly... a mild tanginess.
We're always most interested in the meltability of vegan cheeses and the 'melting' moniker on the pack means we're keen to give this stuff a try on a veggie pizza. We fired up the oven to 220C (425F) and topped our pizza with the grated Cheezly. Commercial pizza ovens are usually much hotter than this, but for home cooking 220C is pretty hot. Dairy cheese melts easily at 180C by comparison.
The soy-free Cheezly performed just as regular Cheezly does, that's to say it melts to a certain extent, but the shreds are still clearly visible afterwards.... you don't get a bubbling melted mass like you would with dairy cheese. We would deem the melting performance acceptable rather than great.
Unlike other products where pea protein has been used, this stuff isn't awful. The pea protein has no discernible taste or any effect on the texture when compared to regular Cheezly. For that, we can recommend this cheese to those wishing to avoid both dairy and soy.
Verdict: Don't Worry, Pea Happy
Veganoo Score: ★★★☆☆
Cheezly Soy & Dairy Free
Cheezly Soy & Dairy Free
Footnote: Ingredients
Here is the ingredients panel from the pack we reviewed.
Glad to see there is no casein either.
ReplyDeleteWhat uk shops might i find this in? My local health food store stocks the soy cheezlys but I try and keep my soy intake down if I can so this would be perfect :)
ReplyDeleteProbably only in small health food shops.
DeleteYou could also try Violife slices which are also soy free.