This is our in-house review of the Food by Sumear Aged Verdure Vegan Cheese
We take a look at this cheese up close and really see what it's all about, join us and continue reading to learn a little more about this vegan cheese.
Ingredients: cashew nuts, tapioca starch, home-grown lactobacillus cultures, coconut oil, salt
This is our in-house review of the Food by Sumear Aged Verdure Vegan Cheese
We take a look at this cheese up close and really see what it's all about, join us and continue reading to learn a little more about this vegan cheese.
Ingredients: cashew nuts, tapioca starch, home-grown lactobacillus cultures, coconut oil, salt
Authentically developed by an ex-dairy cheesemaker for true dairy-like flavours that are paired with great textures. Uses dairy-methods for greater flavours without any tricks.
UK's first authentically developed cultured long-aged cultured cheeses. Matured in our faux cheese-cave alongside the blue cheeses.
Tasting profile: Rich creaminess with a deep piquant profile.
Texture: Firm and creamy.
Maturity: 5-weeks minimum.
UK's first authentically developed cultured long-aged cultured cheeses. Matured in our faux cheese-cave alongside the blue cheeses.
Expertly aged in a cheese-cave-room and cared for weekly to develop a strong and flavourful rind.
Appearance
This vegan cheese has quite the distinctive look and what I really like about it is the appearance changes slightly throughout the cheese, its a dynamic looking cheese and the maturity and ageing make it look amazing.
It comes as a wedge which is cut from a 3kg cheese wheel.
The inner of the cheese is a creamy looking, mellow, slightly golden chalky colour that has an outer grown mould rind to it.
Its rind is quite the art work that changes the longer you have it in your fridge.
This is one aged vegan cheese and you can really see it from its outer coat. Don't let that put you off and I found it reassuring to have a little guide note from Sumear about what signs of mould are OK on the cheese and whether to cut those bits off.
Aroma
This cheese is stinky, it smells aged and mouldy.
The aroma gets right to the back of your nasal passages, its powerful and you'll find yourself wanting to give it another sniff. If you pass this to someone who doesn't know this is vegan they'll never guess that this isn't dairy cheese.
This is the kind of vegan cheese that really shows you that vegan cheese is incredible, its dynamic.
Flavour
This is a cheese for true cheese connoisseurs, it has quite the colourful variety of flavours.
From the offset this cheese has a pleasantly pungent and sharp taste to it, it is bold in its nature, characterful even.
I would say there are four flavour stages to this cheese as after the initial pleasant sharpness it grows into a full bodied flavour, you can taste it all around your mouth and it feels alive with sensation!
After a few moments you then hit deeper tones to the cheese and the chalkiness also becomes more apparent, then the final stage of the cheese is the lasting subtle flavour of all the last three flavour stages combined.
Texture
This cheese is firm, it can be sliced but works well crumbled too as it is so firm.
As of June 2020 there has been climate control issues in the cheese-cave. This has allowed excess moisture loss from the cheese wheels as it matures. This results in a cheese that is a bit more harder than it should be. This is still a good cheese. But not up to our standards of cheesy perfection. Food by Sumear is currently in the middle of moving to a bigger kitchen and underground cheese-cave so production can increase and quality can be kept as high as possible. Please support to help us be even better in the near future ;)
Longevity
Once in your fridge it is recommended to be consumed within 3 weeks. This cheese has been aged for months and it's beautiful to even see it further age in your fridge at home. It can be frozen and will last a little longer.
This cheese says it was made in December 2019 and we are consuming it in July 2020, this is a 6 and a half month old cheese, oh you old thing you!
Environmental Credentials
This cheese is wrapped in a cellulose plastic style wrapper that is home compostible. The cheese is made and aged in the UK and was shipped within the UK. The cashew nuts are bought from a wholesalers in Bristol and Sumear writes that he buys only from ethical suppliers. Sumear has really thought about his company's environmental responsiblity and you can ready more about that on his website where we writes about it. https://foodbysumear.co.uk/pages/environmental-responsibilities
Summary
A wonderous cheese for those that love firm, smelly and deep cheeses.