When I was asked to review plant-based cheeses, I thought twice about doing so. Although there are some companies, usually smaller operations, that make non-dairy cheese out of fermented nuts or soya beans, more often than not it’s manufactured by big companies who are adept at recreating flavours, but who use ultra-processed ingredients such as emulsifiers, stabilisers and additives to get there.
I’ve used vegan cheese only a handful of times in the eight years I’ve been writing my vegan column for the Guardian, partly because I like to know what’s going into my body (and, on reading the ingredients, I am often bamboozled), and also because it varies so wildly in terms of how it behaves: does it melt, split, grate and, most importantly, how does it taste? For a food writer, that makes it tricky to use and make sure there’s consistency in the journey between my kitchen and yours.
So here is my chance to dig a little deeper. In testing these cheeses, I’ve led with flavour first, looking for anything on the spectrum between buttery, sweet and mild to full-blown extra-sharp, tangy and pungent. Following closely behind, the texture has to be right, too, because so much about eating cheese is about mouthfeel and that satisfying, creamy fattiness. Finally, credentials: my vote will always be in favour of products made with natural ingredients, because, ultimately, I believe that’s where the best food comes from.
The best vegan cheese
Best all-rounder
La Fauxmagerie Shoreditch smoked
£4.50 for 100g at Waitrose
★★★★★
Absolutely delicious, and with the same instant gratification as dairy cheese – and I know because I can’t stop nibbling it. It melts beautifully in the mouth, has a potent, cheesy flavour akin to a medium mature cheddar and it comes in a pleasing wedge that can be cut or spread. Boasts a recognisable ingredients list, too.
Best bargain
Cathedral City plant based mature
£3.60 for 280g at Tesco
£3.60 for 280g at Asda
★★★★☆
Great, sharp, pungent, mature cheddar flavour. Melts well into a creamy texture in the mouth. Faint powderiness that I can forgive because it hits the flavour and mouthfeel on the nail. Yes, it’s highly processed, but it is also a tasty, plant-based cheese. A solid block that could be used any which way.
Best splurge
Kinda Co Farmhouse
£6.50 for 120g at Kinda Co
£6.95 for 120g at Abel & Cole
★★★★☆
A very soft, organic cashew nut- and miso-based cheese. It almost melts in the fingers and then does so in the mouth. Very sharp, almost lemony at first, then gives way to a flavour that’s more “pungent miso” than cheddar. That said, it has umami in spades, the mouthfeel is spot on and it has the purest ingredients list of all these “cheeses”. With its spreadable texture, would be best between two slices or melted through pasta.
And the rest …
C’é Dairy? Matured
★★★☆☆
Very soft, and hard to extract from the packaging without smooshing it. Tastes like a fermented, very sharp, savoury, cheddary … cashew paste, which is exactly what it is. Has the fewest ingredients and could be an option for those looking for purity and good flavour, and are happy to sacrifice texture. Best spread on toast.
Bute Island Sheese cheddar flavour block
£2 for 200g at Ocado
£2.49 for 200g at Alternative Stores
★★★☆☆
Mild, gently tangy and impressively cheesy at first, with a good, creamy texture, too. Actually, perhaps the flavour is too mild because it gives way to a faint but detectable starchy finish. It comes in a block and cuts better than it crumbles, but is comprised of lots of processed ingredients.
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M&S Plant Kitchen sliced mature style
£2.80 for 180g at Ocado
★★☆☆☆
Looks more like those yellow-tile backing boards you find in your local B&Q than real food. Tastes somewhere between cold unsalted butter and the mild, sweet wrapped sliced cheese that I ate (and enjoyed) in the 1980s. The mouthfeel starts at polypropylene and transforms to cream. I ate one and didn’t hate it, but I didn’t feel particularly well afterwards, either.
Tesco Free From coconut oil mature cheddar alternative
£2.60 for 200g at Tesco
★★☆☆☆
Tastes like ground powdered rice held together by fat. On checking the ingredients, it turns out I’m wrong about the rice – it is actually four different types of starch held together by water, coconut oil, a regulator and a phosphate. On the plus side, it has a nice, smooth and solid texture that not every plant-based cheddar can boast.
Nurishh cheddar flavour plant-based slices
£1.75 for 120g at Sainsbury’s
★★☆☆☆
Comes in slices and tastes like the mild, buttery and plasticky love child of a Baby Bel and a Laughing Cow triangle, which is weird but apt, seeing as it’s produced by the same company that makes both those cheeses.
Applewood vegan block
£2.30 for 200g at Asda
£2.45 for 200g at Waitrose
★☆☆☆☆
Tastes of nothing until masticated vigorously. The texture is a touch rubbery and a touch powdery, and the flavour eventually makes an entrance as a not-unpleasant salty smokiness. Excellent firmness to the knife.
Violife Cheddarton
£2.75 for 200g at Ocado
£2 for 200g at Asda
★☆☆☆☆
Tangy and salty, but not in any discernible cheese- or cheddar-like way, plus it disintegrates into a disgusting powder in my mouth.
