Vegusto ‘No-Moo Piquant’
A favourite, solid cheddar-style cheese
Type: Hard, block cheese of the cheddar/parmesan style
Pros: Strong flavour, meltable (sort of), platter-appropriate, keeps well, fairly nutritional.
Cons: Pricey, no calcium.
This is the vegan cheese of champions — I can’t help but crave it. With a punchy strong cheddar or parmesan flavour that has a texture the closest to non-vegan cheese of any I have tried, being somewhat waxy and firm, it’s fabulous for putting onto a platter for omnivore friends. The Vegusto brand has a number of different flavours, eight in total, which I will review in time, however this, the Piquant, is my favourite for the strength of the taste.
It’s very versatile, being meltable, however it’s worth melting it into sauce or in the microwave, as putting it straight under the grill can cause it to dry out rather than melt. It grates very easily and doesn’t turn into a mess, which is a revelation if you’re familiar with “cheese alternatives”.
A huge plus is that it keeps really well — I store it in the fridge and then in a ziplock bag when opened and have no dramas with it drying out, which is a common complaint of other hard cheeses. It can apparently be frozen, but I’ve never been able to keep one unopened long enough to try this out.
It may be a bit on the rich-side for some, but I figure that cheese lovers searching endlessly for a decent vegan alternative won’t hesitate to eat something this fabulous. Made in a 100% vegan factory and handmade in Switzerland, a number of their cheeses have won awards and high praise from the vegan blogging community world over (and, now, this one!) plus it’s Vegetarian and Vegan Society approved. They appear to be distributed by Vegan Perfection in Australia as their website is on the label.
It’s worth noting that it is often spelled in different ways, both ‘No-Moo’ and ‘No-Muh’, I think because the company is in the UK, but the factory is Swiss.
The price
It’s sadly one of the more expensive available, at around $10 all the way up to a whopping $16 for the 200 gram block, depending on where you get it from, however it more than makes up for it in the end. The blocks aren’t huge, so you’re talking a bit of a cost per serving — I just wish they had the option to buy in bulk, which some other cheeses do. My Fitness Pal suggests that each serve is 100 grams, but I think this must be a mistake.
I tend to mix the Vegusto with the much cheaper and milder tasting Cheezly (review coming soon) when I’m using it as a grated topper cheese (for instance, on pizza, lasagna, or bolognaise). This blend of cheese is the background of this blog collection — it tends to melt better in combination as well!
It can be bought at Go Vita, Cruelty Free Shop, Habib Wholefoods (Flinders Street) and some other speciality stores, such as Vegan’s Choice in Newtown, Sydney.
The ingredients
Water, vegetable oils and fats (non-hydr.), potato starch, yeast, rice flour, nut butter, rock salt, spices, flavouring (vegetable), binder (carrageen), lactic acid (vegetable).
Unfortunately, it’s not suitable for those with nut allergies due to both the oils and the nut butter.
The nutritional value
While it contains less than 50% of fat than standard cheese (read: non-vegan) that isn’t necessarily a great benchmark for vegans who are used to healthier alternatives as a norm. However, this hard cheese contains 20.3 grams of fat per 100 grams, making it one of the lower-fat cheeses available.
It is made using filtered and energized water, which a lot of websites with bizarre names suggest is of some benefit to you — I remain unconvinced — and apparently helps with nutrient absorption as well as a bunch of other random things, there’s no soya, no GMO, no trans-fats, no sugar and no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. It’s also good to note that for salts and oils, they say they only use rock salt and cold pressed oils — such as coconut, sunflower and rapeseed.
Palm oil-free vegans will be happy to note that they use no palm at all. Despite all this, it still isn’t a source of calcium!
You can order it online (some recipes on their website too).
