Review: Free & Easy Dairy-Free Cheese Sauce Mix

Vegan cheese sauce powder for cheesy sauce in 3 minutes. At least that's what it says on the pack. This stuff has been around for years, but has recently been re-branded so we thought we'd give it a try. This isn't an 'instant' mix that you just add boing water to... you have to cook it in a pan. We made some up as a cheesy sauce for pasta to give it a whirl:

New: Violife Vegan Cheese

Dairy-free cheese slices from Greece, via German firm Veganic. The cheese has just launched in the UK, along with a grated pizza cheese bearing the Veganic name. The Violife slices are produced by Viotros, a specialist cheese producer that makes dairy as well as non-dairy cheeses. The Violife cheese slices are Vegan approved and come in packs of ten slices. Could this new cheese finally mark the arrival of a vegan cheese worthy of the name?

Brie from the Artisan Vegan Cheese Book

A wedge of vegan brie from a recipe in Miyoko Schinner's vegan cheese book (yeah we know it looks like cheesecake). We're slowly working through some of the key recipes in the book as part of our ongoing review. This one uses the same rejuvelac-cultured cashew base as most other recipes in the book, and includes coconut oil for ooziness, along with yeshi (nutritional yeast) for flavour.

Vegan Cheese: Rejuvelac-Cultured Yoghurt Cheese

Dairy-free cheese made from soya milk and rejuvelac. We're still reviewing the Artisan Vegan Cheese book and as a sidestep (not in the book) we tried the rejuvelac-culturing method on plain soya milk. It cultures the soya milk well, although it seems to partially coagulate it at the same time... giving you a cheese that's somewhere between tofu and yoghurt cheese. 

Cashew Chèvre from the Artisan Vegan Cheese Book

We're reviewing Miyoko Schinner's vegan cheese book. This is the first recipe in the book, and the cashew recipe is the base for many other cheeses in the book, so we thought it a good place to start. Chèvre is a goat's cheese which we've never eaten so making comparisons is difficult. It's also difficult to know if you've achieved the same results as the author...

Review: Redwood Breaded Cheezly Bites

Chunks of vegan cheese with a crispy breadcrumb coating. Redwood's selection of snacks and party food seems to have exploded lately. We're not quite sure where these fit in to an everyday menu but we can imagine them being served as an appetiser. We've no idea what dairy pepperjack cheese tastes like as it's not really a cheese eaten in the UK. We certainly know what Cheezly tastes like though and we're interested in how it tastes hot and breadcrumbed.

Soy-Free Vegan: Cheezly Soy & Dairy Free

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.

Redwood Christmas: Vegan Cheese Selection

Your dairy-free Christmas cheese board is sorted thanks to Redwood. If you're looking to offer a selection of vegan cheeses but don't want to buy whole blocks, then this pack of three cuts is ideal. The pack offers red cheddar, cranberry and blue cheese styles in a handy size for your cheeseboard. We grabbed a selection of biscuits and crackers and put the cheeses to the test:

Plantfoods. How to make quinoa qurd

A vegan soft cheese made from cultured quinoa milk. The step-by-step guide to making quinoa qurd is now available at our sister site plantfoods.org

Quinoa Qurd: vegan soft cheese from quinoa

You can culture quinoa milk just like soya milk (and dairy milk) to make quinoa yoghurt. If you strain and press that yoghurt, you get quinoa qurd - a vegan soft cheese made of nothing but quinoa. Full article coming shortly over at our sister site plantfoods.org

Taste Test: Best Vegan Parmesan

Now that Redwood have launched a vegan parmesan cheese we can run a taste test...against the only other vegan parmesan available in the UK...Parmazano from Life Free From. They're very different interpretations of parmesan...one a carton of cheese sprinkles, the other a block of faux vegan cheese. We took them both to the kitchen to see if either of them were worthy parmesan substitutes.

Review: Sheese Melty 'Red Cheddar' vegan cheese

There are twice as many vegan cheeses on the market in the UK as this time two years ago, but the two 'big cheeses' are still Redwood's Cheezly and Bute Island's Sheese. Bute Island have recently joined in the 'melty' cheese revolution with their new line Sheese Melty. We put the red cheddar style Sheese to the test to see how it fares against the competition..

Review: Tofutti 'Better than Ricotta Cheese'

'Better' than Ricotta Cheese is quite some pledge. Of course, anything vegan is better than something for which animals have suffered, but you know what we mean. Tofutti is something of a dairy-free specialist with everything from cheese to ice cream in their product range. The faux Ricotta has been available in the US since last year and recently launched here in the UK, but at a price (a fiver a tub)...that means it had 'better' be good! Is it?

Vegan Ricotta Bruschetta made with Tofutti Ricotta

We're currently reviewing Tofutti 'Better Than Ricotta Cheese' and just made some herby ricotta bruschetta with dill, chives, spring onions (scallions) and garlic... Yep lots of the allium family in the seasoning but for good reason...this vegan ricotta is pretty bland on its own. Full review coming once when we've made some tagliatelle sauce for pasta with it.

Teese me, please me? Review: Teese 'Mozzarella'

There are many dairy-free cheeses on the market now, but few are palatable in all honesty. Teese is the latest to appear in the UK and promises a vegan mozzarella that melts and stretches just like the dairy stuff. Does it deliver?