When I went vegan, I was excited to find so many excellent recipes for nondairy cheese and cheesy sauces. I was tickled to be ‘off the (cow) sauce,’ and never looked back! The one bump in my vegan cheese exploration: I never did come across a vegan blue cheese recipe that rang my bell, and so contented myself with other types of cheesy nom. BUT NOW! OMG, after tasting Non-Dairy Blue-Style Sheese, I’ve concluded that there is officially no cheese that can’t be deliciously veganized. If you like both blue cheese and cruelty-free dining, this stuff will make you swoon!
When a family member ordered several types of Sheese to try, I admit to approaching the tasting with a certain skepticism. In my experience so far, pre-packaged vegan cheeses almost always drop the ball — nine times out of ten, results are overwhelmingly better if you just make vegan cheese in your own kitchen. But since I hadn’t yet met a convincing nondairy blue, I gave it a try… and found myself surprised and delighted!
The texture is very firm, not like a soft blue cheese — it’s definitely hard enough to shred. Its aroma isn’t as strong as dairy blue cheese, but the flavor is spot-on. After eating it straight from the package for a while, cubed with fruit and bread (and wine, naturally!), I wanted to try it in sandwich form.
I shredded some of the Sheese blue, topped fresh avocado on homemade bread and sent it all to the toaster oven. It didn’t melt as well as Daiya or home-made cheese, but that didn’t stop me from sighing with happiness as I scarfed the blue-cheesy toasties!
It’s not local (for me, anyway) and not cheap — though not more expensive than some dairy-based blues — but if you love good vegan cheese it makes a nice indulgent treat.
There are so many reasons to go dairy-free, and so few not to do so — now there’s even one less! If you like the flavor of blue cheese, but not the cruelty and exploitation that comes prepackaged with cow cheese; or if you’re thinking of ditching dairy but worried about overcoming the cheese habit, Sheese Blue-Style Cheese might make you happy.
If you’ve tried a vegan blue cheese (or for that matter any vegan cheese!) that you consider a must-try item for newly dairy-free folk, please share below!
Images by the author, all rights reserved.
Becky Striepe
Aaah! Did you get this online? I tried to find anywhere locally that carries it and was told they don’t distribute to the U.S. anymore. Nooooooo!
Tanya Sitton
Yeah, sister ordered it from veggiestuff.com just a coupl’a weeks ago… http://www.veggiestuff.com/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fveggiestuff%2ecom%2f&WD=sheese%20blue%20style&PN=dairy_free_cheese_sheese_blue%2ehtml%23aBUT050#aBUT050 along with several other varieties. Sort of a ‘guilty pleasure,’ coming from so far away… but man, that blue cheese flavor packed a punch!
Becky Striepe
I will have to order some next time I’m feeling flush!
Emily
This stuff looks nice, I will have to give it a try. Some of the best (and naughtiest) vegan recipes I know are from here:
http://dietingstory.com/are-you-sure-thats-vegan-review/
I think some would go great with this cheese.