This week we were asked to do a Violife cheese review. Now the first thing that I need to point out is that Violife is a vegan cheese alternative, however that doesn’t mean you have to be vegan to enjoy it. We are huge cheese eaters in our house and we couldn’t wait to give the Violife range a try.
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Violife are an award winning creator of vegan products. They specialise in vegan cheese alternatives but also offer both a butter and spread alternative too. They have over 30 products to choose from so no matter what your usual, non vegan, favourite cheese is, Violife are sure to have an alternative for you to try, including
- flavoured soft spreads
- feta alternative
- camembert flavoured dipping cheeses to name but a few.
What are the benefits of swapping to Violife cheese?
Now you might be reading this and thinking why would you switch to a vegan alternative when you are not vegan. Especially when you openly talk about cheese being one of your favourite foods and it being a well known fact that vegan cheese can take a bit of getting used to? Well, the answer is because cheese is one of my favourite foods but its high fat content and its contribution to a person’s cholesterol is not ideal, whereas Violife cheese is a healthier alternative with a lower fat content and can allow me to indulge guilt free, or at least make me feel less guilty, about my cheese consumption.
There are other benefits to making the switch too which include
- Violife products are nut, soya, lactose and gluten free, so perfect for anyone with allergies or intolerances to these ingredients.
- All of the products in the Violife range include coconut oil which in itself has a number of health benefits.
- Violife is a vegan alternative so you are making strides towards a plant based diet which in turn helps to support the world around you.
Our Violife cheese review
We were sent 5 Violife cheese alternatives to try
- Le Rond camembert flavour
- Smoky Cheddar flavour slices
- Original flavour slices
- Original flavour grated
- Epic mature cheddar flavour block
We decided to make a graze board with the 5 Violife cheeses and try them all at once. The stand out favourite for me was the Le Rond camembert flavour. We seasoned this with salt and pepper and drizzled it with a little bit of olive oil and popped it in the oven. We then used it as a dipping cheese with garlic bread slices, cucumber and carrot sticks and it was beautiful. I would say it does have a slight resemblances taste wise to your diary camembert’s but it isn’t as strong, instead it is more of a creamy taste and really nice in it’s own right.
Top Tip – The instructions say 5 minutes, we waited longer and it still wasn’t melting very well so I popped it in the microwave for less than a minute and it was perfect!
The Violife cheese that came out second for it’s similarity to our usual cheese was the grated cheese. You probably wouldn’t have this on a graze board normally but it would be perfect on a sandwich and does take like diary cheese.
Both of the slices, smoky and original, as well as the block are where you will find the most difference between diary cheese and the vegan alternative and this isn’t necessarily due to the taste but the texture. If you are used to the texture of vegan cheese already then you will probably love these as they are full of flavour. If you aren’t then be mindful that they do feel different, in a way that is hard to explain. That being said if you are using the cheese on a sandwich or for cooking the texture will not be an issue and you should definitely give these a try.
If you are normally a fan of smoky cheese then the Violife Smoky slices smell amazing and they have a really clear smokey cheese flavour to them.
Final thoughts on Violife Cheese
The final verdict is that I will absolutely be buying the Le Rond Camembert Flavour again and soon. Based on this I am also now keen to try the violife spread, in particular the creamy with hot peppers spread. In terms of trying to reduce my fat intake when it comes to eating all the cheese I would also happily swap our usual grated cheese for the Violife grated cheese for the whole family and I honestly think the kids would be non the wiser, just healthier!
If you are vegan or are on the hunt for a cheese alternative then I highly recommend you start with the Violife range. They have a lot of products to choose from and they are really tasty and as a bonus they are great value for money. I expected them to be a lot more expensive then diary cheeses but they aren’t, all the products are around the £2 mark and they are available in most high street supermarkets including Asda, Sainsburys and Tesco, so there is no need to go out of your way to find them, you can simply pick them up with your weekly shop.
If you are thinking of going vegan, or would just like to try to have a more plant-based diet then check out the Ultimate Guide to Veganuary along with these vegan recipes to help you get started. If you are thinking of going vegetarian and not vegan, then have a read of this post Is cheese vegetarian? that goes through a number of different cheeses and helps you identify which ones are and aren’t suitable for vegetarians.