The latest arrival is Earth & Co.’s new range of four flavours of vegan cheese; Mozzarella, Cheddar, Gouda and Smoked Gouda. The whole range of coconut oil based cheeses is vegan friendly and free of preservatives and palm oil. The range retails at Spar stores for around R59.99 for 200g, which is admittedly still more expensive than dairy cheese, but is a bit cheaper than most vegan cheeses currently on the market in South Africa.

When it comes to taste and texture the Earth & Co. range does a pretty good job at delivering a good alternative to cheese – in some cases it would definitely pass for real cheese. It does have some limitations, but we found that with a little experience we could get around these; our biggest learning being that if you use the cheese for pizza it’s better to cut it into dice siced blocks rather than grating it as the small grated pieces dried out a bit rather than melting.

There were some specific uses where the Earth & Co. range really impressed; the subtle Mozzarella was great with fresh basil leaves and tomato on the Caprese Skewers we made, the Gouda did a great job on a cheese, lettuce and tomato roll, and the Smoked Gouda – which has a very distinct and gourmet smoked flavour – was a star when combined with hummus and sundried tomatoes on Salticrax as a party snack.  The Cheddar gets a special mention as it made a great classic toasted cheese sandwich.  It did take a bit longer for the cheese to melt than dairy cheese would take – but it was worth the wait! 

If you are looking for a plant-based cheese, the new Earth & Co. range is definitely worth trying out.