Kite Hill: Ricotta & Soft Fresh

So I'm torn on Kite Hill. I've been bragging about them for a while, but really I think the brie is where it stops. I've tried out both the ricotta and soft fresh (truffle, dill & chive), and I'm not nearly as impressed as I was with the brie. I'll still give them another try, as it may have been my applications, and I will still try their other offerings, but my current opinion of these 2 is "meh."

Kite Hill Ricotta
I have tried this cheese twice now, with mixed results. My first attempt was in a lasagna. I mixed the ricotta with egg, parsley, salt and pepper per the recipe. I also added some almond milk as I personally found the ricotta too dry. I snuck this into a low carb version utilizing eggplant instead of noodles, but I do want to note I left in the mozzarella and parmesan (baby steps, especially in convincing the 2 guys I live with). I noticed the ricotta tasted differently, but neither guy did, so I am attributing this to my prior knowledge and nervous anticipation. It wasn't bad, although I got sick of it after a while. But since the boys didn't notice I think I will try again without failure in my mind.

My next and most recent attempt over this past weekend was flatbread white pizza. We make a pizza (really an appetizer, but you know how that goes..) using naan as the crust, seasoned olive oil, and a mixture of ricotta and mozzarella. This time I went 100% dairy free and replaced the mozzarella with nutritional yeast to up that cheese taste. Prior to baking, it was alright. Again I found it too dry and added olive oil. After baking I was not happy. Keep in mind, these were over baked, but the dairy versions did not dry out. The dairy-free version dried out and had a weird aftertaste. Part of that was probably the over baking, but the cheese was crumbly and I couldn't get over that aftertaste. The brie had one too but it was easy to get used to. I haven't totally nixed the ricotta, but if I try this recipe again I need to keep a close eye on it and find a better way to add moisture and replace that missing mozzarella (I thought about Trader Joe's shreds which are supposed to melt and don't taste bad, but they really do taste like almond so would not have added to the flavor).

Kite Hill Soft Ripened (Truffle, Dill, Chive)
This I bought to use as a replacement in chicken in pastry (basically seasoned, seared chicken breast and garlic chive Alouette cheese wrapped in puff pastry). I will be honest and say I never got to using this in the recipe. The cheese smelled just right, although I found the texture odd. At first I liked the taste as well, but again there was an aftertaste I just did not like. Maybe I am just not refined enough to enjoy truffle? Also the texture just was not right for this recipe, so between the two I never got any farther. I'm not sure in what application I would use this cheese, but I may come back to the original later.


Now I will say, some of my experience may have been trying to recreate dairy-heavy dishes. I honestly do think trying to make no dairy dishes and/or dishes specifically designed for these alternative cheeses may provide better results. I have also heard that it is better to cut out all dairy for a few months before bringing in these subs as you will compare to the real thing too much and not be able to enjoy them. Given the boys could not tell the difference and only found out about the sub after the fact, I will say there is some rationale behind this idea.

Trader Joe's Mozarella Shreds

So we were exploring Trader Joe's and I went in search of dairy free options. I noticed TJ's has their own versions of mozzarella style shreds, so I picked up a bag of each which were comparable in price to normal shredded cheese (a tad more expensive, but a good deal cheaper than other brands).

Vegan Mozzarella Style Shreds
I've heard a lot of back and forth on Daiya, so I thought I would try a different brand off the bat. Online I have seen these shreds compared to Daiya and the general opinion seems to be they taste similar or maybe a little bit better. Unfortunately I did not like them. Just right off the bat the taste was awful to me, which makes me think I am going to be on that anti-Daiya boat (for shreds, so far no complaints about their cream cheese). I also found the texture to be harder than normal shreds. I picked these up because the bag says they melt and stretch like real cheese, but I never even got to that point :(

Almond Mozzarella Style Shreds
So these are not 100% dairy free. They are 99% lactose free but still contain casein (ingredients include parmesan and pasteurized milk). So while this should be a clear no for me, my allergy is not at a dangerous level and even with intolerance I can handle a small amount of dairy before suffering GI issues. I decided to give it a go, plus it also advertises the ability to melt and stretch like real cheese. Taste-wise, they are fairly bland. They taste more like almond than cheese, which is not necessarily bad but certainly not what I was looking for. The texture is much more like actual shredded cheese though. I haven't tried them on a pizza or anything that requires melting yet, but I'll hang on to them for future experiments. If you can handle small amounts, I would would say give them a try.

Kite Hill Soft Ripened

We had our bi-monthly wine night the other day. When it was hosted at my house I had an array of snacks. Now my old roommate and buddy has moved out and we go to his place. I got hooked on baked brie with an apple-date chutney. Running out of time I had resorted to unbaked brie with fig jam (a combo I learned about from a friend, and boy is it delicious!). However, DF means no more brie for me...

I picked up Kite Hill's soft ripened over the weekend, and decided to put it to the ultimate test at wine night! I did a quick taste test the day before and the texture is good (not as creamy, but still very soft and spreadable). It looked pink at first, but the next day that seemed to mellow. Plain it was alright (nothing special), but once you spread it on a cracker, and especially when you paired it with the fig jam, this was absolutely delicious!

About half of the people there gave it a try and we demolished it! I brought an actual brie as well, but the Kite Hill was gone first (granted it is smaller, but still it was a hit and everyone that tried it liked it). I haven't tried it baked yet, but I think that is coming up on the agenda. We do this the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month, so plenty of opportunity to find out how it bakes up!

I'm also looking forward to giving the ricotta a go (going to use this on a pizza in the near future, although I have also gotten recommendations for Daiya's mozz shreds for a good melting cheese as well, and if all goes well may try it in a lasagna perhaps with the Daiya since my recipe calls for ricotta and mozz). I am also looking forward to trying the other Kite Hill cheeses. I've heard good things about the cream cheese, and I think the soft ones will be a good goat cheese sub.

Also look for me to get off my lazy bum and make some of the cheeses in Miyoko's book: Vegan Artisan Cheese. Kite Hill is delicious, but if I can get my roommates on board I think making some of these will be more cost-effective ~_n

Trying out Some Cheese Subs

I was making a bagel today and decided it was a good opportunity to try out some cheeses. Like many, I enjoy cream cheese on my bagels. However, my go to is actually a toasted bagel with butter and cheese (slightly melted). It's like an open face grilled cheese on a bagel. So, you get 3 reviews today!

Chao original slices

This smells fine, kind of like cheese (not bad in any regard). Texture-wise it's a little harder than actual sandwich cheese slices. It melted fine with some heat, but got a bit gummy. It also gets gummy w/ moisture. Flavor-wise, it was meh. I'm not sure what the original flavor is supposed to be, but it was pretty bland. Not bad, just didn't do much for me.

Follow Your Heart American slices

These smelled fine too, more like cheese than Chao. The texture again was a little harder than actual cheese, although not as hard/tough as Chao. Like the Chao, it melted well enough with some heat, although still gummy (not quite as gummy as Chao though). The flavor was a bit better, but that might because they were going for an actual flavor. Kind of like American, although not quite there.

I gave my dog a little piece of each of these. She was like WTF! So...definitely did not fool her. They weren't anything great or special, but I'll probably still give them a chance and see how I feel about them over time. Remember: I was using real cheese just this weekend lol

Overall, they weren't particularly disappointing or anything, and I'm interested in trying the other flavors. They are a bit pricey, and you don't get much in a pack though. I'm also unsure how they would use for sauces etc, but I'm guessing other options might be better

Daiya plain cream cheese

This was the best of the 3 cheeses I tried today. It smelled like cream cheese, had a really great texture, and a pretty good flavor. My only complaint is that I found it a bit sweet. If you've ever had the Philadelphia cheese cake flavored cream cheese, it was more like that than plain. Still good, and would be wonderful in baked goods and desserts, but not quite what I was looking for on my bagel today. I will definitely be using this in the future, for a variety of things from sandwiches to desserts, and I am looking forward to trying some of the other flavors.

Dairy-Free Cheese?

So, I reached out to friends on Facebook to inquire about dairy-free cheese. I've got a buddy whose dad is allergic to milk, so he and his wife have been a huge resource. They are actually the ones who recommended most of my ice cream choices. I've heard the horror stories about dairy-free cheese, so I hoped they would have some suggestions. So far the only good brands I've gotten recommended to me are Chao and Treeline (although I've also heard good things on forums about Daiya and Kite Hill). Since the stores by me don't carry any of these options, and some are rather expensive, I decided to to some investigating.

Go Dairy Free actually had some great suggestions, and even shared a recipe for feta! I love feta, and while I haven't tried this yet it sounds delicious. This recipe is actually an excerpt from Miyoko Schinner's book The Homemade Vegan Pantry. Now, I'm not vegan, and since the recipe was already posted (with permission), I have not picked up this book...yet. There are apparently some more cheese recipes and things like custard so it could still be worth a look. However, it was enough to make me look at Miyoko's books and I found (and bought) Artisan Vegan Cheese. This was a super exciting find for me and includes some more favorites of mine like sharp cheddar (also shared w/ permission by Alisa at Go Dairy Free), chevre (or goat cheese), parmesan, and brie.

I'm hoping to make a trip out to some of the more "specialty" grocery stores in the area to pick up teh ingredients and give the above mentioned cheeses a go. Be sure to check back for reviews and pictures once they happen!