New Food Finds: Almond Cheese

As most of you reading this probably know, I have been lacto-ovo vegetarian since about 1983. I recently decided to transition to veganism. Because of that, I have been phasing out dairy and have been looking for new products to fill my protein and calcium requirements.

I found an almond cheese in the dairy case at Whole Foods that I wanted to give a try. The brand is Lisanatti and it comes in three flavors: Cheddar, Mozzarella and Jalapeno Jack. This is what the package looks like:

The nutritional information and ingredients on the back of the package are shown here (click to enlarge on Flickr):

For each flavor, 1 ounce (1/8 of this package) is 50 calories, 1 gram of fat and 1 gram fiber; which comes to 1 point. I use 2 ounces (1/4 of the package) in my salad, for 100 calories, 2 g fat and 2 g fiber, or 2 points. The cheese claims to melt and shred well, but I have never tried that. I just cube it and add it to my salad.

I actually haven't tried the mozzarella yet, so I can't offer an opinion, but I plan to use it on a pita pizza. The cheddar is ok, I've had it with bean and vegetable burritos, but I like extra super sharp cheddar and this one is fairly mild. Unsurprisingly, I LOVE the jalapeno jack! I think I have 6 packages of it because as soon as I tried it, I stocked up on my next visit to Whole Foods. It's really amazing if you are into that kind of thing.

Unfortunately for me though, I realized this is not vegan. It has some milk proteins in it. I didn't realize that until a few days ago. I'll finish the stock I have and then move onto another protein replacement for my salad.

While that's sad for me, I wanted to let you all know more about the product since I got a few questions about it.

If you do not have a Whole Foods in your area, I would suggest looking for this at your local natural or organic food store. It would be in the refrigerated dairy case, likely next to the other tofu and soy products.