Review: Mediterranea range of mock meats

Italian Sausages, Burgers and Seitan Slices from MozzaRisella partner Mediterranea. To promote the launch of the MozzaRisella online shop, the company sent us a range of their deli mock meats. Alongside their fantastic vegan mozzarella, and excellent ravioli, you can also now buy these italian tofu and seitan specialities:

Mediterranea tofu sausages

The sausages come in plain and spicy varieties. They're tofu based and are similar to some Taifun sausages. There are no cooking instructions on the packs (this is a common theme with vegan products!). We tried out boiling and grilling (broiling):

boiled left, grilled right

The boiled sausages were disappointingly soft and bland, but grilling them creates a bit of a crispy browned skin which adds both texture and flavour. As a grilled sausage, these are the equal of some of the Taifun sausages - great if you're looking for a light, healthy sausage.

Mediterranea seitan burgers

The burgers meanwhile are gluten based and labelled as Seitan burgers. There are various flavours including Plain and Olive. These are firm and meaty burgers and are pre-cooked, requiring just a few minutes in a pan or under the grill. 

Vegan 'Bacon Mozzarella' Burger

These burgers are surprisingly 'bacony' in taste - a bit like vegan gammon. We took the opportunity to make a bacon mozzarella burger - with some grilled MozzaRisella melting deliciously on top. Eaten like this they're great and we think they fill a niche in the market for vegan bacon burgers.

Sandwich with Mediterranea sliced seitan and vegan sliced cheese

The seitan slices are thinly sliced gluten and naturally don't need cooking. Although they have ingredients almost identical to the burgers, the lack of applied heat means they don't have the 'bacony' taste. These slices taste strongly of gluten and won't be to everyone's taste. 

The problem with wheat gluten, even though it's a strong flavour, is that the flavour gets lost in a wheat bread sandwich. The slices also come in a Smoked variety, but even these don't have a flavour that comes through well enough in a sandwich.

Round-up

The Mediterranea range has arrived in the UK and has once again expanded the market for vegan meat replacements. The tofu sausages have a battle ahead to displace the similar and already established Taifun sausages in your local health food shop. The burgers may have a niche though if you're looking for a really meaty bacony burger.

Mediterranea products are stocked at both Planet V and the MozzaRisella online shop

Verdict: Meat Free from Eataly

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Veganoo Score: ★★★★☆
  Mediterranea Sausages

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Veganoo Score: ★★★★☆
Mediterranea Burgers

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Veganoo Score: ★★★☆☆
Mediterranea Sliced Seitan

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Footnote: Ingredients

Here is the ingredients panel from the pack we reviewed.

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