Back in 2015, I had a private food intolerance test because I have a lot of problems with food and how unwell it makes me (You can read my results from a blog post I wrote in 2015 here: Louise’s Food Intolerance Story). There was a big question mark around which foods in particular make my body poorly. I was curious about what the results would show, but the results showed I’m intolerant to a variety of foods including dairy (specifically the protein in cow’s milk). For a good while I did follow a dairy free way of eating and then I slowly re-introduced dairy products back into my daily foods. Whilst I was dairy free, I found a great brand called Violife who at the time in 2015, had a small selection of products available in supermarkets. I would look for vegan food products as I knew they would be dairy free by default, such as vegan cheese!
Fast forward to 2022, the selection of vegan cheese products offered by Violife is incredibly impressive. Violife recently sent me a selection of their vegan cheese products to try for myself and review in a blog post. Obviously I also asked for my fiancés help with taste testing them, as he hasn’t tried many vegan products before.
What is Violife Vegan Cheese made from?
The main two ingredients in the Violife cheese selection are water and coconut oil, making them a healthier alternative to traditional dairy products. Violife don’t only make vegan products, their alternative cheese products are also free from dairy, gluten, lactose, GMO, nuts, soya and preservatives.
Below are the 5 different Violife vegan cheese products we tried out!
Violife Original Flavour Grated
After seeing the texture and tasting the grated Violife cheese myself, I feel this one in particular will be perfect to use in vegan recipes. It’s also ideal for adding the finishing touches to your pizza by sprinkling the Violife grated cheese on top. When doing my taste test, I sprinkled some on top of a pasta bake which melted as you would expect it to do and it tasted lovely.
Violife Epic Mature Cheddar Flavour Block
A block of cheddar is a staple in many households, so it’s great that Violife offer a cheese product of this nature. This can be perfectly grated e.g. on top of pasta, or sliced and served with crackers as I have done in the photograph below.
Violife Smoky Cheddar Flavour Slices
Tom (my fiancé) was a big fan of the Violife smoky cheddar flavour slices! He told me he really enjoyed them when I asked him to try some. I’m personally not a huge fan of smoky cheese, but as Tom does enjoy a good smoky cheese – I figured he would be the best one to taste test this one. He also told me the smoky cheddar slices went well with the apple and grapes.
Violife Original Flavour Slices
The Violife original flavour slices is the most common alternative cheese product I bought back in 2015. They melt perfectly inside wraps, just like I remembered they did. For this taste test, we chose to have a slice with a burger for dinner. I did want to buy a meat free burger for the purpose of this taste test, but the shop I was in didn’t have any. So, we chose meat burgers and once again, the slices melted perfectly on top of our burgers.
Violife Le Rond Camembert Flavour
This is a fairly new addition to the Violife cheese selection, so I was excited to try the Violife Le Rond Camembert Flavour! Soft, round and creamy – vegans and those with allergies/food intolerances don’t have to miss out on classic favourites such as camembert.
Final thoughts on the Violife Vegan Cheese Products
It’s important to remember that vegan cheese, including Violife, won’t taste exactly like the dairy version we are used to. After trying this selection of products though, I can see how Violife has really improved on the range offered since I last purchased them myself in 2015. We both really enjoyed the selection of samples which were sent for us to try. Each has an authentic taste and a specific use, which is something to remember when trying and purchasing these products. Even though I’m no longer dairy free, I still like to try to eat alternative products when I can so I’m pleased I had this opportunity to try the range as I will happily purchase some of these products in future.
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