*AD – This is a sponsored post*
Violife kindly sent us over a bundle of their vegan cheese products to test out. None of us have ever tried vegan cheese so we were excited to give it a go. We aren’t vegan, or even vegetarian but we do drink lactose free milk as both me and my daughter find that dairy triggers our IBS symptoms. So if we are able to find a good alternative to dairy cheese, that would be amazing for us as we LOVE cheese in this house.
Read on to see what we thought of the Violife products…
Violife
Violife have more than 30 years of vegan product development and production experience, allowing them to create the vast range of award winning vegan products available today. As well as vegan cheese alternatives they also have Viocreme – an alternative to dairy cream, Vioblock – a vegan alternative to dairy butter, as well as Viospread and Cocospread.
Violife believe we can help the planet by making small changes to our diet and lifestyle. They recognise that you don’t have to be vegan to make the switch to Violife products, there are many reasons to make the change.
“At Violife, we are proud to be 100% vegan, but you don’t have to be! Why not change your cheese to Violife by trying out a new plant-based recipe and see for yourself just how delicious it is – what’s more, you’ll be doing a little something to help change our planet too.”
Vegan cheese
Violife’s Original Flavour Grated is the product we have been using the most. We always have grated cheese in the fridge to use on pizza and pasta etc. It’s a staple in our house. My husband does most of the cooking and little did I know he had used the Violife grated cheese on our pizza and jacket potatoes this week without any of us even realising! It melts just like dairy cheese and had a great taste.
Original Flavour Slices are the same flavour as the grated product above, just in slices instead. Again, I like the mild cheese flavour but we haven’t used these very much simply because we don’t often use cheese slices. However, these would be great in a sandwich or on a toastie as they melt just like the real deal.
Epic Mature is a cheddar flavoured block. I really liked the taste of this one, it would be perfect on a cheese board along with the Camembert flavoured Le Rond. What I would say about all the Violife products we tested is that while the flavour is pretty spot on, the texture is different to normal cheese. I would say it’s not quite as creamy, but it’s definitely not bad, I just think it takes a little getting used to.
Le Rond is an alternative to Camembert, which is one of my all time favourite cheeses so I was particularly excited to try this one. It can be enjoyed either hot or cold but I can’t imagine eating Camembert any other way than all warm and melty! We cooked it in the oven for five minutes and it certainly came out looking like you’d expect. The smell and taste were very similar to that of Camembert. I wouldn’t say it was my favourite of the products we tried but it was good.
Saving the best till last! Smoky Cheddar Flavour Slices, I loved these. Again, the texture is different to dairy cheese but you just have to stick with it and you do get used to it. The flavour is amazing and as someone who enjoys smoked cheese, I would say that I probably wouldn’t be able to to tell the difference flavour wise! It really is so clever that these products are all plant based.
The Violife website has some great vegan recipes to give you inspiration on how to use their products. There’s some brilliant Halloween recipes on there so perfect for if you’re planning a Halloween party this year.
Our thoughts
I will admit that I didn’t expect to like the products as I am a big cheese lover and I just didn’t think that a vegan alternative would match up. Also, we have tried vegan burgers and sausages before and didn’t really like them. But, we were all very pleasantly surprised. Although the texture is a little different, the flavour of all five products was spot on. I would definitely buy Violife cheese again and recommend that everyone give it a go, I bet you’ll be surprised at how well it compares to dairy cheese!
Have you tried Violife vegan cheese before?
Thank you for reading.
