Tyne Chease (artisan vegan cheese from the North)
Artisan vegan cheese companies in England go beyond coconut oil (the ingredient in most supermarket vegan cheese), and usually are made from nuts (so have protein and calcium) and taste way nicer, usually sold in sustainable packaging. Try with organic apples and grapes, or in a sandwich!
Tyne Chease (based just outside Newcastle) makes organic cashew cheeses (they don’t melt, more for cheeseboards, with fruit and wine). They are mostly made with fair trade cashew nuts.
All have a tangy taste (apple-smoked, pink peppercorn, pickled onion, Ethiopian spice and cream cheeses in glass jars, plus a creamy nacho dip. It even makes vegan camembert!
Keep these cheeses away from children and pets, due to salt, spices and macadamia nuts. For the same reason, don’t feed leftovers to garden birds or wildfowl. Read more on food safety for people & pets.
Due to the chilled nature of these foods, arrange for parcels to be sent to a local Service Point (or collected by a neighbour or safe space) if you are going to be out. Keep dry ice away from children and pets.
These cheeses are mostly packed in an easy-to-recycle vacuum wrap and cardboard box (the cream cheeses come in plastic jars with lids, which are easily recycled.
Wholesale orders are available for independent health stores and farm shops, plus you can order a cheese club membership, which gives monthly deliveries of limited edition flavours, without breaking the bank (you can even try experimental batches that may never hit the shelves).
Artisan vegan cheese is more expensive than supermarket coconut oil cheeses, so really it’s best to treat yourself and buy less of it. But recently this company is trialling a price drop, to see if it has enough customers to be able to financially making their chease more affordable. What a great idea!
Issues with Coconut Oil Cheeses
Most supermarket vegan cheese (either own brand or the big dairy brands selling vegan versions) are made with coconut oil, rather than nuts or seeds. This shows a lack of knowledge on how to make good versions, as coconut oil cheeses not only leave a funny taste in the mouth, but have no protein or calcium (one reason why people eat cheese in the first place).
Some brands perhaps are not also not checking if monkeys are used to harvest the coconuts (good brands would have guarantees). And if eaten in excess, coconut oil has high saturated fats (nuts have fat too, but good vegan cheese is a treat, and the nuts do have other nutrients).
The other problem is that coconut oil cheeses don’t taste like cheese! Try a good nut-based cheese from the deli, and you’ll soon be enjoying munching on it with crackers and fruit.
As an example, Cathedral City (which says its dairy cheese is made with ‘100% milk from cows’ – not stating if the cattle are free-range) has now launched a plant-based cheese, its ingredients are:
Rice base (water and dried rice syrup), coconut oil, modified potato starch, bamboo fibre, sea salt, acid, gelling agents and colour. That’s not cheese! That’s a scientific experiment wrapped in plastic.
Compare this to Tyne Chease cheddar alternative: made with cashew nuts, a (little) coconut oil, nutritional yeast (makes things cheesy and gives B12 vitamin), Himalayan pink salt and natural probiotics. Which ones sounds tastier and more nutritious to you?
