Cheese please!

Or should I say "cheeze pleaze"?  Spell it however you want, what I'm talking about here is vegan cheese alternatives.  There's not a huge variety of flavors that can be bought at the store, mostly mozzarella style or cheddar style.  Here's my take on the most popular and readily available brands:

Daiya cheese, mozzarella or cheddar, comes shredded in 8-oz. baggies.  A nice thing about their cheese is that it contains no soy or gluten products.  It melts easily and is amazingly yummy on pizza, pasta bakes, nachos, veggie burgers, etc.  It's not very good cold.  This is the most expensive brand at about $5 a bag.

Follow Your Heart, the awe-inspiring creators of Vegenaise (vegan mayo, so much better than the animal-product-laden version), also make mozzarella, cheddar, Monterrey jack, and nacho cheeses.  These are gluten free but do contain soy.  They come in 10 oz. blocks and range from $3 to $4.  I like this cheese both cold and melted.  It doesn't melt quite as easily as Daiya, so be sure to put the oven on broil if you are using it on pizza.

Honestly, these are the only two brands I recommend.  Our local Hy-Vee also carries Vegan Rella which is mainly made of tapioca starch and rice flour.  It does NOT taste good cold and becomes liquid mush when heated.  Don't do it.

What's your favorite vegan cheese?

Next week: making your own vegan cheese