AD – this is a paid advertorial but all thoughts are my own
I should start this post by saying I’m not vegan, I’m not even vegetarian but I don’t eat a huge amount of meat and I love trying out vegan and vegetarian dishes and try and eat meat free a couple of times a week. Dairy is my week spot though, I just love cheese in all its forms so when I was offered some of the Violife products to try out, it’s safe to say I was curious!
Violife offer a huge range of vegan alternatives to cheese which are perfect for a number of vegan recipes. I was sent five products to try and I was told upfront that vegan cheese can take a little bit of time to get used to if you’re not used to eating it. I have never tried vegan cheese but went in with a very open mind about the experience. Here’s what I thought of the five Violife vegan cheeses:
Original flavour grated
So this have a very mild flavour to them. Personally I like a good, strong cheese so this was a little tame for me. This cheese is designed for melting so think cheesy topped pasta, nachos, pizza and to be fair it did actually melt well. The texture is the thing that was slightly off putting for me though (you’ll notice that throughout these reviews). It’s just so different from dairy cheese. The texture did improve when it was melted though which is another plus point for this product.
Epic mature block
The first thing I noticed about this is that it definitely had that distinctive mature cheddar smell. I’ve already mentioned I prefer strong cheeses so I was pleased about this one. I can safely say the mature cheddar taste is there which is really good but again I had a bit of a hard time getting past the texture for it to be totally enjoyable. As I’m used to dairy cheese I like the firm yet crumbly texture of mature cheddar and this was just a little rubbery. Given time though, I think I would be able to get used to this as a cheese alternative as the flavour and smell were spot on.
Original flavour slices
There’s not too much I can say about these as they’re the same flavour as the grated cheese. If you are looking for a vegan alternative to cheese though then these are perfect for in sandwiches or on crackers. They also melt nicely too making them a good option for a toastie. They’re the same texture as the other cheeses but again this does improve when melted.
Smoky cheddar flavour slices
I love a good smoked cheese so I was excited to see how these compared to their dairy counterpart. Unfortunately this one really wasn’t to my personal taste and I’m sorry to say I did not enjoy these. The smoky flavour was definitely there but these seemed a little watery and the texture of these was something I could not get used to.
Le Rond Camembert flavour
The final product I was sent was a Camembert alternative (although it isn’t pictured here as the box was a little squashed). This is the one I was most intrigued to try. Camembert is one of my absolute favourite cheeses and one of my all time favourite treats is baked Camembert smothered in chutney and served with crusty bread. Yum. This came with a little recipe card which I really liked but I just went for serving this plain after baking it in the oven so I could really test out how it compared to Camembert.
I will admit that when I took this out of the packaging I was extremely sceptical about this. The Violife cheeses are made with coconut oil and the Le Rond looked and felt like a big block of coconut oil. But I popped it in the oven and let it do it’s thing.
I was so pleasantly surprised by this one. It melted pretty well (though it didn’t quite melt all the way through so I think it needs a little longer than dairy Camembert). It was slightly runnier than Camembert but the texture was pretty good and the flavour wasn’t too bad either. Was it exactly like Camembert, no. But for a vegan alternative I thought this one was pretty good. Out of all the products, this is the one I’d have no problems switching to.
In all I don’t think the Violife products are too bad. If you’re looking for a cheese alternative then these are a pretty good place to start. Having had no experience of vegan cheese before this it’s no surprise that the texture is something I’d need a little while to get used to but flavour wise I was impressed with all of these products. The Le Rond is definitely the stand out product for me and the one I enjoyed the most. I do like that Violife have such a wide range of cheese alternative products though meaning that if you’re cutting out dairy or you’re a vegan then you still have lots of different options.
Have you ever tried vegan cheese? Do you have any vegan cheese recommendations? Let me know in the comments!
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