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I’ve been vegan for over six years and I’m still often asked about vegan cheeses. Which vegan cheese do you buy? What is the best vegan cheese? Does vegan cheese melt? So many questions… I love cheese and did worry that I’d miss it when I gave it up for the animals, but honestly there are so many wonderful vegan cheeses out there nowadays you really won’t feel like you’re going without. As I’ve said there are so many to choose from, today we’ll keep it simple and just look at a few. Read on to find out about five of the best vegan cheeses and how to use them:
- 5 Vegan Cheeses
- 1. Vegan Cheeses: Epic Mature Cheddar Flavour Block
- Vegan Cheese and Pickle Sandwich
- 2. Vegan Cheeses: Violife Original Flavour Grated
- 3. Vegan Cheeses: Violife Original Flavour Slices
- Vegan Classic Cheeseburger
- 4. Vegan Cheeses: Violife Smoky Cheddar Slices
- Vegan Smoky Cheese and Caramelised Onion Chutney Panini
- 5. Vegan Cheeses: Violife Le Rond Camembert Flavour
- Vegan Baked Camembert Bread Bowl
- What is Vegan Cheese Made From?
- Vegan Cheese Recipes
- Read more:
5 Vegan Cheeses
I didn’t struggle at all when I first became vegan and I think that’s for two reasons. Firstly, I had been vegetarian for most of my life so I only had to give up dairy, eggs and honey really, and secondly I kept to my same everyday diet, I just veganised all my favourite meals. Therefore, it soon felt like normal to me and I couldn’t imagine returning to eating and drinking non vegan food again.
From the beginning of your vegan journey, it’s important to find a good vegan milk and vegan cheese that suits you and your needs. Everyone is different and has different tastes. Sometimes, there are taster tables at vegan fayres and events so you can try before you buy. Otherwise, just add a different product to your shopping each week so you can taste test them all without it costing too much. If you have vegan friends close by, you can swap and share to save money too.
Pictured above are five vegan cheeses from the Violife range. Today we’ll look at Violife Epic Mature Cheddar Flavour Block, Violife Original Flavour Grated, Violife Original Flavour Slices, Violife Smoky Cheddar Flavour Slices and Violife Le Rond Camembert Flavour and the different ways you can use them.
1. Vegan Cheeses: Epic Mature Cheddar Flavour Block
I see Violife Epic Mature Cheddar Flavour Block (£2.75) as the staple block of vegan cheese for our fridge. This is generally the vegan cheese I’ll buy for the week, unless I have other particular recipes planned. You can cut off slices of the block to eat alone or with crackers. Add a chunk to a cheeseboard, salad or vegan ploughman’s lunch, use Epic Mature Cheddar Flavour Block to make a sandwich or stick it under the grill to make cheese on toast or a toastie (it melts great). You can also grate this block and add on top of pizza or pasta dishes.
Vegan Cheese and Pickle Sandwich
I really love to make an epic cheese and pickle sandwich. It brings me back to Sunday evenings as a child having a sandwich made with thick and crusty fresh bread for our tea.
Choose your choice of bread, I went for a fresh seeded loaf, “butter” the bread with vegan margarine, add slices of Epic Mature Cheddar Flavour Block and cover with pickle. I know everyone says that the best sandwiches are cut into triangles, and I usually agree, but for this particular sandwich I prefer it cut into rectangles, like a proper Sunday doorstop sandwich (in the days before sliced bread). So comforting and delicious.
Epic Mature Cheddar Flavour Block is also available to buy in mini portions- perfect for picnics and for a travel snack.
2. Vegan Cheeses: Violife Original Flavour Grated
Violife Original Flavour Grated (£2.75) is your vegan equivalent of grated cheddar cheese. It is so tasty and also convenient. Use it to sprinkle over pasta dishes, shepherds pie and add to potato for creamy cheesey mash potato. It’s ideal on fajitas and tacos. It can also be used in sandwiches, toasties and on vegan cheese on toast. I love it sprinkled over jacket potato, as picture above, and served with salad and vegan coleslaw.
Violife Original Flavour Grated melts really well. So if you prefer melted cheese over a jacket potato, you can add the cheese and pop it back into the oven to let it melt. This is so comforting and reminds me of having takeaway jacket potato with melted cheese before I was vegan. This vegan cheese is delicious in cheese and garlic stuffed jacket potatoes.
3. Vegan Cheeses: Violife Original Flavour Slices
Violife Original Flavour Slices (£2.50) are also very convenient and can be used to make a quick sandwich or toastie. My favourite use for them is to add them to a “fakeaway” vegan burger. Sometimes I add salad and an original flavour slice to my burger and eat it like that with the cheese only partially melted.
Vegan Classic Cheeseburger
For the best takeaway style vegan burger I like to leave out the salad (have it on the side instead!) and microwave my burger to melt these cheese fast food style. Take a fresh burger roll and your choice of vegan burger (or two if you’d prefer a vegan double cheeseburger), add pickles, a circle of mustard and dollop of ketchup. Wrap your burger in microwave safe baking paper and microwave until the cheese has melted to your taste. Ping! You have a classic cheeseburger- veganised! Alternatively, if cooking your burgers on the BBQ or in the oven or frying pan, just add your cheese slices onto the cooked burgers for the last few minutes of cooking so they melt. The photos do not do this vegan burger justice- it tastes so good and is so satisfying to bite into!
4. Vegan Cheeses: Violife Smoky Cheddar Slices
Violife Smoky Cheddar Slices (£2.80) are so more-ish! They are delicious straight out of the pack- a lovely snack! However, if you can use all your willpower and save some they are delicious with a salad or crackers and in sandwiches and toasties. They taste great in a vegan BLT with cheese too.
Vegan Smoky Cheese and Caramelised Onion Chutney Panini
Thankfully, I managed to save some of my Smoky Cheddar Flavour Slices to make a delicious lunch. I added the smoky slices and caramelised onion chutney to a panini, which I then toasted. Serve with salad, root vegetable crisps and vegan coleslaw.
Look at how beautiful this vegan cheese melts. It tasted spot on too!
5. Vegan Cheeses: Violife Le Rond Camembert Flavour
For the ultimate (vegan) cheese lover, Violife LeRond Camembert Flavour (£3.00) is a must. It’s soft, round and creamy and always feels like a treat to buy. It’s so versatile and can be used in many recipes, such as pasta, camembert bites, deep fried camembert, quiche and pastries. A handy recipe book comes in the packaging. But ultimately, just pop it in the microwave or oven, bake it and let it be the star of the show.
Vegan Baked Camembert Bread Bowl
This is the simplest supper or side dish yet always feels so indulgent. Take a fresh crusty loaf of vegan bread, cut out a hole big enough to fit Le Rond. Place the vegan camembert into the bread, season with pepper and thyme, and bake until melted to your liking.
I added some caramelised onion chutney and served with grapes and wine. Originally, this dish was designed to all tear off bread and dip in. If serving to a number of guests, you can cut (like a cake) so each guest has their own portion instead.
It really is a lovely treat weekend supper. I want to see more vegan camembert dishes being offered in restaurants when I eat out as I used to love a good cheesy starter!
What is Vegan Cheese Made From?
Vegan cheese can be made from a variety of ingredients, sometimes using nuts or tofu. All of the cheeses in this post are made from coconut oil. So in addition to being suitable for vegans and vegetarians, they are also free from dairy, soya, gluten, lactose, nuts and preservatives.
Vegan Cheese Recipes
So those were five of my favourite vegan cheeses and how to use them. You can find more vegan recipes here.
Have you tried vegan cheese before? Which is your favourite?
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