Review: Co-operative Cherry Pie / Gooseberry Pie

Co-operative Vegan Cherry Pie / Gooseberry Pie

Large fruit pies from the Co-op in-store bakery. Listed as vegan on the supermarket's current vegan list (link below). UPDATE: The Apple Pie and Rhubarb Pies are also on the list, but the pies are not listed together.

News: Fry's vegan range now in Booths


Vegans in the Northwest welcome news of Booths supermarkets stocking the market-leading meat replacement brand. The range of Fry’s Family Foods products is available at half-price until May 20 as a special introductory promotion at Booths.

Review: Tofutti Minis - 'Better Than Cream Cheese'

Tofutti Minis - 'Better Than Cream Cheese' - Dairy Free Cream Cheese

Mini snack packs of dairy-free and soy-free cream cheese. Based on a protein blend including rice, fava bean and garden pea. This is a six pack of little snack pots, so you can get your dairy-free fix on the go. We picked up the Roasted Red Pepper & Garlic flavour.

Review: Teese Creamy Cheddar Sauce

Teese Creamy Cheddar Sauce - vegan cheese sauce

Pre-packaged cheese sauce, made with dairy-free cheese. Teese is a US brand of vegan cheese that's becoming more widely available in the UK. Teese mozzarella came second in our massive Meltdown cheese taste test last year. This sauce comes in an identical package to the firm cheese - a sort of cheese sausage. Quick mac and cheese is on the menu:

Review: Coconut Yoghurts from Bessant & Drury / The Coconut Collaborative

Photo Credit: The Coconut Collaborative

Between reviewing the product and writing up this review, the company has gone and changed its name, and packaging. The Coconut Collaborative is the new name for Bessant & Drury. The product hasn't changed, which is a relief, as it's rather good:

Review: Vegamigo Parmezzo Cheese

Vegamigo Parmezzo Cheese - vegan parmesan dairy-free

Vegan parmesan alternative made with cashews. Dairy-free, soy-free and gluten-free. Pasta sprinkles for vegetarians and vegans. This is now the third brand of grated 'parmesan'-in-a-tub that we've reviewed, after Bellissimo and Parmazano. After soy flour and coconut flour, this time it's ground cashew nuts doing the cheesy thing:

Review + Recipe: La Guli Condensed Soya Milk

La Guli Condensed Soya Milk: dairy-free and vegan

Vegan caramel shortbread made easy, with dairy-free condensed milk. Lactose-free and gluten-free, this vegan version of condensed milk is made with soya and corn syrup. Available in the UK from several online retailers. It works well, and the recipe for millionaire's shortbread is below:

Review: Nuvale 'Cubes' Seitan Chunks

Nuvale Cubes Seitan Chunks

Canned seitan pieces in stock. Great store cupboard standby for pie fillings, like a vegan version of steak chunks. We tried them out in a seitan and mushroom pie:

Review: Dragonfly Leek & Potato Soysages

Dragonfly Leek & Potato Soysages - vegan sausages

Handmade vegan sausages from Devon. Meat-free and gluten-free, made with soya bean fibre. We've avoided these sausages until now, based on the fact that a sausage which is 70% potato and rice just can't be any good, can it?

Vegan Easter: Lidl mini chocolate eggs

Lidl - Favorina Mini Chocolate Eggs - Vegan

Favorina brand mini eggs with marzipan, amaretto and cassis centres. Dark chocolate eggs for liqueur and marzipan lovers. These bags of chocolate eggs appear every Easter at the budget German supermarket:

Review: Sojade Seitan Steaks

Sojade - Grilled Seitan Steaks - Meat Free and Vegan

A pack of three griddled vegan steaks made from gluten. Sojade's meat-free range now includes burgers, steaks and the roulade we reviewed, but strangely their soya mince contains egg (despite espousing the benefits of a vegan diet on their UK website). Can a seitan-based steak cut the mustard?

Vegan Easter: Choices White Choc Easter Bunny

Celtic Chocolate - Choices - Dairy-Free White Choc Easter Bunny

Single dairy-free easter bunny from the Irish firm Celtic Chocolates. Vegan white chocolate is getting less rare as products like these become a fixture on supermarket shelves. The dairy-free Choices range is one of the better tasting faux-milk and white chocolates.

Food Fight: Schlagfix vs SoyaToo

Vegan Food Fight: Schlagfix vs SoyaToo dairy-free spray creams

Battle of the dairy-free spray creams. Whipped vegan cream in a spray can is now something we've grown used to in the UK, but until now we've not had a choice of brands. SoyaToo make three varieties themselves (soya, rice and coconut), but it's great to have a further choice now that Schlagfix has arrived:

Review: Schlagfix Whipping Cream

Schlagfix Schlagcreme Universal / Sweetened Dairy-Free Vegan Whipping Cream

Schlagcreme dairy-free cream, universal or sweetened, for vegan whipped cream dishes. Schlagfix make a range of dairy-free products, including spray cream and vegan coffee creamer. These cartons compete with the SoyaToo range of soya, coconut and rice based whipping creams. How do they compare?


Review: 'The Bridge' Rice Cream

The Bridge - Bio Rice Cuisine Dairy Free Vegan Rice Cream

Dairy-free, soy-free and gluten-free vegan cream alternative, made from italian rice and sunflower oil. Badged as Bio Rice Cuisine from Italian firm 'The Bridge'. This is an unsweetened 'single' cream primarily meant for savoury dishes. We made a potato gratin to check it out:

Review: EcoMil Almond Cream

EcoMIl Almond Cuisine dairy-free almond cream

Organic unsweetened 'Cuisine' cream made from almonds and agave. Dairy-free and soya-free. EcoMil suggest the cream is heat stable and can be boiled or mixed with acidic foods such as lemon without curdling. We're reviewing several non-dairy creams this week, so let's see how EcoMil fares:

Review: Lovechock Raw Chocolate Bar

Lovechock - Raw Chocolate Bar - Goji/Orange

Organic goji & orange flavoured 100% raw chocolate that arrived from Vegan Tuck Box. Four chunks of deeply dark looking chocolate, studded with pieces of goji and buckwheat (of all things to put in a chocolate bar). Dairy-free, soy-free and gluten-free.

Review: Cauldron Smoked / Italian Herb Tofu

Cauldron Smoked / Italian Herb Tofu

Yeah, we're blogging about tofu again. Although it's an everyday essential...you've got to get the best. Cauldron (Quorn's sister brand) have sold tofu for 30 years, and have been through many a re-brand. The latest packs are sold in supermarkets alongside the company's (non-vegan) sausages. The range includes plain tofu, marinated (pieces), smoked and italian herb varieties:

Review: Rude Health Dairy-Free Milks

Rude Health - Dairy Free Milk Range - Oat / Almond / Brown Rice

New vegan organic plant milks: oat milk, rice milk, almond milk. Organic producer Rude Health has had a rebrand (looking good) and have expanded their range. These dairy-free milks are available from supermarkets and independents, in the ambient (long life) aisle. They have some stiff competition though, so how do they compare?

Review: Lotus Caramelised Biscuit Spread


Speculoos style biscuit butter from the makers of Lotus caramelised biscuits. Available in smooth or crunchy and vegan-labelled. Take some ground up biscuits, add more fat and sugar... and you don't get a healthy snack, but...

Review: Zotter Mitzi Blue White Chocolate

Zotter - Mitzi Blue 'Rice in Paradise' - Dairy Free Vegan White Chocolate

'Rice in Paradise' R.I.P.  rice milk white chocolate with cape gooseberries (physalis) from Austrian chocolate specialists Zotter. This is the second Zotter product to arrive from Vegan Tuck Box. Zotter appear to specialise in the 'unusual', and this is certainly like no other chocolate:

Review: Sojade Seitan Roulade

Sojade rolled seitan with spinach roulade

Four slices of rolled seitan with spinach. Sojade's yoghurts are popular in the UK, but it's harder to find their meat-free range. We found this seitan roulade in an independent health food shop:

Review: Ten Acre Cheese & Onion Crisps


The Second Coming of Vegan Cheese & Onion Crisps. Since Barrow Boys went bust there hasn't been a source of vegan cheese and onion crisps, but Ten Acre have stepped into the void. They have produced a vegan-certified cheese and onion crisp to satisfy your cravings:

Dropping The Dairy: Panda Liquorice Range

Panda Liquorice Range is vegan

Review of the NEW recipe Panda flavours, including filled liquorice, without milk ingredients. At least part of the range is now labelled as vegan too. We've long wondered why the fondant filling needed skimmed milk powder as an ingredient, and now it's been dropped we know it wasn't necessary!

Review: Violife Creamy - Vegan Cream Cheese

Viotros - Violife Creamy - Dairy Free Vegan Cream Cheese

New dairy-free soft cheese from the makers of Violife cheese slices, arriving in a range of flavours. Viotros announced this creamy cheese alternative late last year, but it's only recently landed in UK shops. The cheese comes in five flavours - original, herbs, tomato & basil, cucumber & dill and hot peppers. We snagged the plain and herb versions for our review:

Review: Wills Vegan 'Work Boots'

Wills Vegan Shoes - Work Boots

Men's faux-leather lace up boots from the UK's hottest vegan shoe company. These are 'work boots' in the fashion sense rather than being safety footwear. Wills was launched to make vegan shoes more fashionable and more affordable, and at just 56 quid for a pair like this, they've probably succeeded!

Vegan Easter: Moo Free's Caramelised Hazelnut Nib Egg

Moo Free - Caramelised Hazelnut Nib - Dairy-Free Chocolate Easter Egg

Dairy-free chocolate Easter egg with pieces of caramelised hazelnut embedded in the faux milk chocolate. This is new for 2014 as an Easter egg, although you can buy chocolate bars of this product all year round. We loved a caramel Easter egg last year, so does this one measure up?

Review: Fruitbroo Hot Fruit Drink

Fruitbroo - hot fruit drink

Arriving with the February Tuck Box, this hot fruit cordial is an unusual product. Fruit cordials can usually be served hot or cold and are not usually this concentrated. This small bottle makes 15 hot drinks, because you only need a teaspoon of it.

Review: Amy's Kitchen Lasagne / Mac & Cheeze


Dairy-free pasta meals with Daiya cheese... the only source of Daiya in the UK as far as we're aware. These frozen ready meals are available in health food shops in the UK. Be careful when selecting the lasagne packs, as the dairy-free version looks similar to the dairy version. What we're itching to know... is Daiya all it's cracked up to be...?