Published by: Gourmet Sleuth Last Updated: 08/19/2013
One fun thing about attending a lot of food shows is that you can find things you weren't even looking for. During a recent trip to a commercial food products show we stumbled across this dairy free cheese product. On a side note, I'm not vegan, not even vegetarian, nor do I have any gluten tolerance problems but the product caught my eye nevertheless. To be honest many of the soy-based cheese products I've tasted are pretty bad and something I would not buy unless I absolutely had no other choices. This product caught my eye because it is made predominantly from tapioca starch and the sample they offered tasted pretty good.
Filtered water, tapioca and/or arrowroot flours, non-GMO expeller pressed canola and/or non-GMO expeller pressed safflower oil, coconut oil, pea protein, salt, inactive yeast, vegetable glycerin, xanthan gum, vegan natural flavours, lactic acid (vegan, for flavor), spices, garlic, titanium dioxide (a naturally occurring mineral).
That's not a bad ingredient list, all in all. I have read some vegans take issue with the coconut oil but that is a "green issue" not a nutrition issue.
Comparison: Cheese Vs Daiya 1 oz. Serving
On the downside, the Daiya product does have quite a bit more sodium than typical cheese and a few more grams of carbohydrate. This may or may not be worth the trade off depending on your dietary needs.
In addition to shreds, the cheese substitute comes in wedges suitable for slicing. The product can be eaten raw or melted in any variety of ways. Use in sandwiches, wraps, and tacos or use to melt over vegetables or top a casserole. In general, you can substitute the product, ounce for ounce in any recipe that calls for cheese.
The Daiya Foods website overs a nice variety of recipes to to try.