June 12, 2022

VEGAN RECIPE REVIEW: Mozzarella! (Part 2)


This is continued from yesterday...

If you missed yesterday's post, I attempted making vegan mozzarella that supposedly is sliceable, shreddable, and meltable. It sounded impossible to me, so I was excited to try it. The first attempt was a disaster, so I tried making it again. At the time I was writing my blog post, the second batch of "cheese" was in the fridge, firming up in the mold I'd put it in, so I couldn't finish the review yesterday.

If I'd have known then what I know now, I could have done all of this in one part yesterday--because the second batch didn't turn out, either.

I checked it as soon as I woke up this morning, at it looked promising at first. But when I removed it from the mold, it was like a very thick, sticky dough:


I came over to my computer to write the post and I again read through some of the comments on the recipe (which can be found at Vegan Blueberry). I couldn't understand why it wasn't turning out! I was SO careful the second time not to mess anything up and it all went smoothly.

One of the comments gave me a little hope, so I decided to give her tip a try:

I dumped the dough into a pot and heated it slowly (the last thing I wanted to do was scorch the whole mess). It didn't get to the point where it was able to be stirred, but it got a bit oily and kind of resembled melted cheese.


I put it another mold and set it in the fridge. Which is where it is right now as I type this. I'm going to check it again later and update this.


I'd still like to experiment with making different vegan "cheeses", so I'll be on the lookout for another recipe. Remember I tried out nacho cheese? I had texture problems with that as well (it tasted good but it set way too quickly--in probably 20 seconds--and was no longer able to be drizzled over nachos).



Okay, it is now several hours later and I just checked on the vegan mozzarella again. I had high hopes because it seemed to be jiggling out of the mold this time (last time, I had to scoop it out). Once it plopped on the plate, I could see it still hadn't set like it was supposed to.


It was definitely oily (that happened when I heated it and it just stayed that way). Just for the heck of it, I cut into it with a butter knife and it basically oozed around the plate.


The recipe said if it's too moist, to wrap it in paper towels and that will pull some of the moisture out. Well, that was a fail as well! Hahaha.


Still, Jerry and I each tasted it (I tasted each batch at different stages out of curiosity). Despite the fact that I couldn't get the correct texture, I can say that it tasted just like regular dairy mozzarella. Jerry was the first of us to actually say it; before I gave my opinion, I asked him what he thought and he said (with a bit of disbelief), "It tastes just like mozzarella--really!"

Eli said he didn't like it "because the thought of it grosses me out"--he doesn't like vegan foods that are meant to replicate something else. If it's a dish like beans and rice, he's cool with it; it's the "weird" ingredients that grosses him out (not the taste, but the thought of what he's eating). Noah wasn't home to try it. It's a lot easier to sell him on the vegan stuff because he gets bad stomachaches when he eats dairy.

I made some individual whole wheat pizza crusts yesterday when I hoped to use the vegan mozzarella and I put those in the fridge. So I think tomorrow I'll try making a pizza and I'll plop some of the cheese here and there to see what happens. I definitely don't have my hopes up this time  ;)

If any of you have a tried-and-true vegan mozzarella recipe (or just any good vegan cheese recipe) please share! It was a fun experiment and I'd like to try again. After yesterday's near-death experience with the NutriBullet, I ordered a new blender today; I've been using the blender a lot lately, and our cheap Oster one is probably 15 years old. I still can't bring myself to pay for a Vitamix or Blendtec, so after reading a million reviews I bought a Ninja one. I'll post about it after I try it out.

Well, it's a bummer that this recipe was a fail for me. It worked for a lot of other people (from what I read in the comments) so it must be something I did wrong!

Here is the recipe for Vegan Mozzarella at Vegan Blueberry. Maybe you'll have better luck and can give me some pointers ;)

2 comments:

  1. I'm with Eli on this one. You're doing the right thing by eating healthy, and we all should. But that stuff doesn't look eatable to me. The beans and rice look so good, and those potatoes too. But I couldn't try that cheese. No offense intended.

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  2. I love most vegan food. However cheese isn't something that can be replicated. To date I have not found any vegan cheese that isn't oily and gummy. I have tried most. I simply stopped looking.

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