Food Battle: the Toastie

The other I decided I really wanted a cheese toastie so I went and bought a toastie maker... but wasn't happy with the cheese I used. In the fridge I had the cheddar style slices by Violife. These are nice and I eat them uncooked in sandwiches, or on top of a burger. This is because they have a firm texture and non-offensive mild taste - sort of like a posh american style cheese slice or a cheap cheddar. However...in a toastie it wasn't that great, the cheese melts (which I suppose is a good thing) but it turns into a thick orange liquid, like nacho cheese, rather than any kind of dairy cheddar... not stringy or firm as it should be. And the texture had a kind of slimy feel. I did manage to eat it all, but this is likely due to having sausages in it too, because I really wasn't that impressed with the cheese. Put it this way, I won't be making it in a toastie again. So I bought a couple of different cheeses to try. I got one that I've had before and liked which is Cheezly White Cheddar Style, and Violife for Pizza. I decided on getting another Violife one because I had only ever had their Cheddar slices and thought it might be different; looking at the picture on the packet it looks like mmozzarella.. it's pale and the lifted pizza slice is stringy! What followed was much disappointment...

I folded a slice of bread to make a tester of each cheese, as you can see from the picture at the end (the Violife one is on the left). I tested it against the Cheezly as I knew I liked the Cheezly one (though it's not perfect) and didn't want to do it from memory as I haven't had it in ages. The Cheezly one was good. Not stringy but the flavour was alright and nothing really bad about it (some people say it's a bit chalky, but this is more when it's uncooked). The Violife one? Nothing like the packet... it went into a yellow liquid, that picture on the front can't be right! I will try using it again on a pizza... just to see if maybe it needs to cooked with ventilation but I'm not holding my breath. It was maybe a bit better than their other one, but it had the same slimy texture... like PVA glue. So yeah, I'm still holding out for a decent vegan cheese that has some stringy-ness, be it like a cheddar style or a mozzarella style. If you have any suggestions please let me know in the comments! Many vegan cheeses I've bought don't get finished because I don't like them, so I'm hesitant about wasting money/food, especially as I don't like strong cheese smells or flavours.

For toasties only - I'm giving Violife 2/5, and Cheezly 4/5. (But remember I still like Violife uncooked).

Redwood: Cheezly and Tomato Pizza

I've been waiting for this day, being able to buy a vegan pizza in shop. Redwood have a few different styles, I went for the plain one just to see what it what it was like, and I'll probably buy it again to use my own toppings. Now the pizza itself is only child size or snack size, but thats not too bad, I mean if you want to have a pizza dinner you could get two or get something else. And it was quite nice. The base was certainly nicer than I expected, not like in a equisitic way but I thought it might be hard or something and actually it was quite soft. And the cheezly tomato base was nice too, nothing like fine dining just nice like supermarket quality. Definitely be buying them again. 4/5

Redwood: Super Melting Cheddar Slices

Also - I've finally tried to cheddar style slices from Redwood. So in response to my review of their mozzarella slices... yes these too taste like cheddar (when cooked - I'm not eating them raw they look wrong). But I didn't try them at the same time so I can't really tell the difference. Maybe these ones were a little more yellow? They might have been less mushy too but it's only marginal I think. Next time I make a pizza I will probably pick these ones now, but like I said I couldn't really tell them apart so I wouldn't mind. 5/5 again.

Redwood: Super Melting Mozzarella Slices

I thought after that appalling review for Tesco's medium soya cheese I should try and recommend a good cheese alternative. So far the best one I've come across is Redwood's Super Melting Mozzarella Slices. I'm basing this review on a few uses when the slices have been cooked, and just making pizza or pizza bread. I say that because when it's raw from the fridge it's not very dense and its quite brittle. I also haven't tried it raw, but I did smell it and it didn't smell bad. In fact not really much odor at all.

Anyway, cooked slices on a pizza it's really good. They do melt, but I would recommend using an oven and not a microwave as it seems to respond better to that kind cooking. At first they'll start to glisten, like you can see moisture or fat coming out, then they melt and then it starts to golden. Taste wise, I think it taste's a bit more like mild cheddar than mozzarella. But unlike many vegan products that try to taste like some kind of animal product and fall short, I think on a blind taste taste this one might be able to fool people. The texture is also more like cheddar than mozzarella, because it's not stringy at all, you can cut right through it. Perhaps they should change the name, or maybe should try their cheddar version first.

4/5
*updated 30/08/14 - changing rating to a 4 because it's not stringy and has room for improvement.

Tesco: Free From Soya Medium Cheese

I tried this cheese melted into a nice pasta bake. Unfortunately it ruined the bake and I couldn't finish it. The problem I have with this cheese is the taste and the smell. It's awful. The smell alone makes me feel physically sick. I should say that before I was a vegan, I was quite fussy with cheese anyway, but so far I've not found many vegan cheese brands that taste... right. The taste wasn't quite as bad as the smell, and I'm sure some cheese lovers might enjoy or not mind the taste. Alas for me it even tasted a bit sicky.

I'm giving it 1/5, it gets 1 mark for texture, which was like cheddar and it did melt.