Creating Better Vegan Cheese

WASHINGTON, D.C.Although soy-based cheese analogues have existed for years, they have generally lacked sufficient similarity to the real thing. Designing in the requisite stretch, melt, texture, mouthfeel and flavor for a cheese alternative takes considerable skill.

Real cheese benefits significantly by virtue of its natural casein, a milk protein that enables nice stretch and melt properties.

However, Jonathan Gordon, Ph.D., from Galaxy Nutritional Products (and formerly of Kraft), believes that a new product forthcoming from the company gets closer than ever before. He centered his doctorate studies on the fermentation of soymilk.

In order to replicate the cheese-eating experience as closely as possible in an animal-free product, Gordon notes it takes exactly the right amounts and blend of gums, protein, solids and fats to get a desirable, cheese-like bite and mouthfeel while achieving a realistic melt, as he noted in a piece on The Salt, an NPR blog (see Cracking the Code: Making Vegan Cheese Taste Cheesier). The goal is to suitably emulsify and stabilize the product, thereby preventing any water or oil in the analogue from separating from the product.

Gordon notes that the new vegan shredded cheese analogue product will be released by Galaxy Nutritional Products this spring.