Soya cheese

[Jayne]

Have just tried this and it tasted DISGUSTING! It was like a piece of plastic. I'm thinking of trying the rice cheese next - does anyone know if that's any better? I also try to avoid hydrogenated vegetable oil where at all possible.

Have tried a spread called Olive extra made by Biona - again, it's a bit plasticky but doesn't really taste of anything at all so is OK for sandwiches. It's made with Palm fat, olive oil, sunflower oil, lemon juice and salt and is organic.

[Copper]

Rice cheese is similar to plastic too. It did have a slight taste to it but I did not like it.

[matt]

i'm a scheese person myself but not the cheddar version which is dire. i have mozerralla, cheshire, or edam. quite edible.

pure spreads are usually fairly well liked by all and sundry on the site:lol2:

[Pam]

I'm not keen on any of the dairy free cheeses but use Tofutti slices for melting on top of pizza or lasagne. Watch out with the rice slices because some of them contain milk (casein, I think) - I've been caught out with that one in the past.

Cheezly/sCheese - very similar hard cheeses available in different flavours. Cheezly has a "meltingly" variety but I didn't have much success getting it to melt.

Veggie Kaas - very greasy, supposed to melt but didn't do very well

Biddy Merkins Vegerella - quite rubbery and a bit like an Austrian processed cheese

Toffuti - spread comes in different flavours, ok in toasted sandwiches/on jacket potatoes. Slices - good for melting but not particularly good flavour.

For spreads Pure is the most available in supermarkets and comes in soya, sunflower or organic varieties. Vitalite is also dairy free. Sainsburys do their own dairy free spread and some other companies make it too eg. Granose. Hot buttered toast just isn't the same with dairy free spread somehow.

[cnc]

Tofutti slices are good for practicallity. The mozeralla is nicer than the cheddar, but they are both reasonable (an aquired taste I fear!!!)
I managed to get the Cheezly to melt ok, but the tofutti slices melt better. I've never had sCheese, but the more you eat these things the more you get used to them (well thats my theory anyway!!)
Hot toast with Pure spread on it is as nice as the stuff I used to have on my toast before (I never used to eat butter, so I've not noticed that much of a change)

[Nic]

I gave up on shop-bought non-dairy cheeses (should probably try again at some point) when trying to lose weight, as they're all high calorie, and instead did a bit of Googling and found the Uncheese Cookbook.

Its got loads of recipes in for 'cheese', usually made with nuts, agar jelly and other vegan ingredients. It can be a bit weird but some of them work really well, and I would definitely recommend buying it. Though the huge fondue section is a waste, as I can't imagine that many people have fondue sets any more.

Anyway, I now make cheeses from that every few weeks, and use them for things like ham and cheese toasties. The texture is right, though I don't like the taste of them much on their own (though to be fair I've only done about five of the recipes).

You do have to double up (or even triple) on the recommended portion sizes but unlike most vegan cookbooks the flavourings are about right (I usually have to quadruple things like herbs, salt and pepper to get a good flavour). And they're all much healthier (in terms of calories and fat) than the bought non-dairy cheeses.

Nic