VIOLIFE ORIGINAL GRATED 200G

Product Information

Again, I have to admit I haven’t tried Violife smoky cheddar flavour slices yet. Not because I’m scared but because I’ve been calorie counting and my lunches have consisted mostly of fruit and yoghurt, not sandwiches. Violife vegan cheese range Vegans are split between wanting to avoid this altogether as the company also makes dairy cheese, or loving it. It is one of the closest plant-based cheeses to dairy cheese in terms of texture and taste. This feta-like vegan cheese has the appearance of the dairy cheese it mimics. It is not quite as crumbly but it’s not bad. The Violife Blue Wedge has a similar texture and could be worth a try too. For those who fancy a cheese toastie for lunch, or just want to add a bit of pizzazz to their salad, here’s our verdict on vegan cheese from Aldi, Sainsbury’s, M&S, Tesco, Lidl and Asda. M&S Plant Kitchen Grated Not'zarella

The plant-based mature cheddar was my least favourite out of them all (Image: Emily Sleight/ Liverpool ECHO) Note that there are lots of other flavoured cheeses produced by the more artisanal brands that we’ve included later in the article. These are the products that are often available in standard supermarkets. Cheese Name/Brand Oh my goodness the smell and taste of these smokey cheddar slices is sublime. I would never have known they are vegan and they remind me of the sort of cheese we eat when we go to Spain. Personally I like this wedged into a baguette with some chutney and salad. The choice is yours!Here we’ll look at the most popular and widely recognised vegan cheese brands in the UK. Note that some of the brands are not necessarily vegan cheese specialists and many produce other food products (which may be vegan or non-vegan, depending on the brand in question). Violife Sainsbury’s have a few Free From vegan cheese options available and use similarly longwinded names for them as Tesco do. Their own-brand vegan cheeses include the following: Deliciously Free From Grated Cheddar-Style Coconut Base Alternative To Cheese (catchy, eh!), an alternative to soft cheese, a grated cheese and a Greek-style cheese. Since moving into a house on my own five years ago, I have a 99.9% dairy-free home. I say 99.9% dairy-free because occasionally I will eat something that contains dairy but, hand on heart, I can say I have only ever had vegan cheese in my fridge since living here. That’s how far vegan cheese has come along. Violife vegan cheese Many varieties also use coconut oil, be careful though if you are dieting as coconut oil is often high in fat. Palm oil and sunflower oil can also be used.

There could be some overlap between this category and some of the others, whether hard cheese, cream cheese or artisan cheese. But we’re focussing on those that are infused with some non-cheese ingredient, whether chillies, cranberries or sundried tomatoes.Most of that time, that vegan cheese has been Violife, and I’m not just saying that because they recently sent me a load of cheese to review. I’m well aware that, even if I’m allowed to say whatever the flipping flop I like on my own blog, there is a such a thing as positivity bias and, if someone’s given something for free, psychologically, they’re going to look on it more favourably. Dairy feta cheese is a tough thing to replicate, but the following vegan versions are as close as you can get without having to get animals involved. Cheese Name/Brand The after taste was similar to feta but it didn't look overly appetising (Image: Emily Sleight/ Liverpool ECHO)

As well as their Original Flavour Creamy vegan cream cheese, Violife also have the following: Creamy with Garlic & Herbs, Creamy Cheddar Flavour, and Creamy with Hot Peppers. Supermarkets have finally cottoned on to the fact that the number of vegans is growing and will continue to grow in the UK in the coming years (partly driven by the strong environmental arguments to go vegan). As such, they’ve started to produce their own versions of popular vegan products, including vegan cheese. Here are how the main supermarkets are getting on at the time of writing. Cheese Name/Brand This is the cheese that I was most sceptical about. Surely nothing can match up to the camembert I am used to consuming? Adding barley starch and ground sunflower kernels to the usual mix of coconut oil and modified starch gives this Grill Me! Vegan cheese the consistency of dairy halloumi once it’s been grilled, with the olive extract and sea salt added for flavour. I always have a bag of grated cheese on the go in our house and this original flavour grated cheese from Violife is an absolute gem. There are plenty of vegan recipes you can use this in or just use it in your day-to-day cooking from sprinkling it over warm dinners, pizza bases and adding it to salads. Smokey Cheddar Flavour Slices

Vegan Cheese Versus Dairy Cheese

At the same time, prep the sourdough, and cut into chunky slices. Drizzle with olive oil, chilli flakes, and grated garlic, with some lemon oil. We like to cook it in the oven, but you can use a toaster. Bake for 3-5 minutes on each side.

The Not'zarella had a dry grainy consistency but the taste wasn't too bad (Image: Emily Sleight/ Liverpool ECHO) I'd most probably try this cheese again if I had to, but I'd make sure I actually put it in something, because on its own you can really tell it's not actual cheese. As you have no doubt seen us mention above, most vegan cheeses are made from a combination of oil (usually coconut oil) and starch (which can come from all kinds of sources from tapioca to potato to rice). This is certainly the case with the mass-produced products that you will tend to come across in the big supermarkets. Some of the higher-end products opt instead to make their vegan cheese from nuts – whether cashew nuts (like Tyne Chease) or almonds (like Nush). This tends to create products that are lower in saturated fat than those using coconut oil, with higher protein and more micronutrients.Tesco are pretty good when it comes to producing vegan cheese options under their Free From sub-brand. At least in terms of the variety they offer – though they could come up with some catchier names! Like the environmental considerations, when it comes to ethics, there are very few arguments that dairy cheese is more ethical than cheese made from plants. To produce dairy cheese, cows are held captive and milked until they are not able to produce sufficient quantities (and are then sent to slaughter). But they also have their calves taken from them soon after giving birth to them and these calves are often slaughtered for veal and to produce the rennet that is used in the production of some non-vegetarian cheeses and which is taken from the stomach of the slaughtered calf. Maybe I should've had this melted on a toastie or had it with something else, but if I wanted vinegar with my cheese I could've just grabbed some Sarsons.