Cashew Cheese

palace culture chive cream cheeze

@ Palace Culture
Cheese Alternatives

Palace Culture Expands Waitrose Offerings with New Fermented Cashew Cream Cheeze

Palace Culture, a UK-based artisan producer of plant-based cheezes, has announced the addition of its new Chives & Shallots Cream Cheeze to its existing product line. The new offering will be available nationwide exclusively at Waitrose stores. The Chives & Shallots Cream Cheeze is made from fermented cashews, combined with garlic, sea salt, black pepper, and chopped chives and shallots. The 120g spread can be used as a topping for sandwiches, a dip for crudités, or an ingredient to add creaminess to pasta sauces and soups. Palace Culture’s cheezes are made using traditional fermentation processes and organic ingredients, providing a plant-based alternative to traditional dairy products. Founded by Mirko Parmigiani to create a flavourful, dairy-free cheese for his son, who has a dairy intolerance, the …

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I AM NUT OK cheeses

© I AM NUT OK
Cheese Alternatives

Cashew Cheese Brand I AM NUT OK Secures First UK-Wide Retail Listing with Ocado

I AM NUT OK, a UK producer of cashew-based cheese alternatives, has gained its first national listing at online supermarket Ocado. The retailer will stock three of the plant-based cheeses — the parmesan alternative OH GRATE!, the cultured cashew feta Fetamorphosis, and the soy-based Bluffalo Notzarella. The cheese alternatives are made with a unique fermenting and aging process that uses real cheese cultures; by emphasising taste and transparency, I AM NUT OK aims to provide an “alternative to mass-produced and ultra-processed rubbery vegan cheese”. “The brand is focused on developing a new category, products that are uniquely delicious in their own way and not just made for vegans but for people who love good food,” said co-founder Nivi Jasa. “Ocado is a trendsetter and our …

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Vegan goat cheese by Les Nouveaux Affineurs

© Les Nouveaux Affineurs
Cheese Alternatives

Les Nouveaux Affineurs Presents La Bûche, a Gourmet Goat’s Cheese Likely to Ruffle Feathers in France

Paris-based Les Nouveaux Affineurs this week presents its new creation, La Bûche (“the log”), a veganized goat’s cheese created with fermented cashews. Founded in 2017 by Nour Akbaraly, and receiving a €2M cash injection in 2020, Les Nouveaux Affineurs says that it “imagines, creates, and produces natural, vegan & vegetable alternatives to cheese”. Its popular products are indistinguishable from their traditional counterparts, and during a blind-testing amongst the public, Parisians were shocked and amazed to learn that this cheese did not come from cows.  La Bûche is described by the French startup as a “ripened and fermented product handled with care for multiple weeks. Its delicate white crust and its soft center reveal notes that will remind you of goat cheese.” The product is crafted …

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I Am Nut OK

© I Am Nut OK
Facts & Figures

I Am Nut OK: Artisan Vegan Cheeses That Are “More Daring Than Dairy”

I Am Nut OK is a London-based vegan cheese brand founded by American-Italian couple Angela and Nivi. As an Italian, Nivi struggled to give up cheese after going vegan, so Angela attempted to help him by creating her own vegan cheeses. Following some successful experimentation, I Am Nut OK was born. The brand’s cashew-based cheeses are made using a similar fermentation and aging process to conventional cheese, then flavoured with herbs and spices. The range includes plant-based ricotta, feta, parmesan, smoked cheddar, and more. A Christmas selection is also currently available, along with accompaniments such as sourdough crackers, vegan smoked salmon, and marmalade. Recently, I Am Nut OK opened Third Culture, a vegan deli based at Broadway Market in London. The deli offers a selection …

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spanish quevana's cashew vegan aged cheeses

© Quevana
Retail & E-Commerce

Quevana: Spanish Producer of Fermented Cashew Cheese Enjoys Dutch Retail Success

Quevana, previously Vegetaleso, is a young food startup based in Segovia, Spain, founded by Alejandro de Quevana in 2020. At 18, driven by his vegan diet and with no previous experience in the food sector, Quevana started making vegan cheese.  Only after a few years in business, Quevana’s vegan cashew cheese retails in 150 of the 600 Dutch Jumbo supermarket chain shops and at specialised shops in countries such as Qatar and Bahrain. Inspiration from Thailand In an interview, the young entrepreneur told EFE:agro that his inspiration came after visiting Thailand, where he tasted a dish that used nuts to replace cheese. He also noticed that most of the vegan cheeses in Thailand were for sale in other markets, including the Netherlands. Quevana started making …

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Margaret Coons, Nuts For Cheese

Margaret Coons ©Nuts for Cheese
Investments & Acquisitions

Nuts For Cheese Raises $5.35M for Expansion of Cashew-Based Artisan Cheese

Canada’s Nuts For Cheese, manufacturer of fermented cashew-based cheeses and butters, today announces it has closed a $5.35 million funding round led by Forage Capital Partners The investment will go towards equipment and facility enhancements, key hires, innovation and marketing initiatives. The company will also be implementing a board of directors led by Mike Fata as Chairman of the Board. Says Jim Taylor, Partner at Forage: “Forage is really excited to invest in a leading vegan cheese company that provides consumers with a real food alternative to traditional cheeses.”  Founded in 2015 by vegan chef Margaret Coons, who initially sold the cheeses in farmers’ markets, the brand expanded into more than 1,900 retail outlets in Canada and entered the US with vendors including Whole Foods …

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Margaret Coons, Nuts For Cheese

Margaret Coons ©Nuts for Cheese
Interviews

Nuts for Cheese: “Within One Year of Market Entry We Gained National Distribution With Products in 45 States”

Nuts for Cheese started life as a plant-based cheese brand when founder and CEO Margaret Coons was working as a vegan chef and used the kitchen after hours to create her own original dairy-free cheese recipes. Nuts For Cheese makes a premium, organic line of indulgent cashew cheeses, and has gone from strength to strength, recently reporting that it has seen 50% year-over-year sales growth as it increases distribution across the US. We were excited to chat with Margaret about her artisan cheeses, their rapid growth and her plans for the future.  What is the origin story of Nuts for Cheese? I started Nuts For Cheese while working as a vegan chef and introducing a plant-based cheese board to the menu. It quickly became one of our …

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Brazil's Novah! raises funding

© Novah!
Fundraising

Brazil’s Novah! Raises R$600,000 Through Equity Crowdfunding Platform Vegan Business

Brazil’s Novah! has become the third company to secure funding through the plant-based equity crowdfunding platform Vegan Business. The cashew cheese brand raised R$600,000 ($120,400) in just nine hours, with participation from 108 investors. Novah’s current portfolio includes five varieties of plant-based cheese (mozzarella, provolone, fresh, cheddar, and cottage cheese) and three cheesecakes (red fruits, coffee with ganache, and passion fruit). The brand intends to use the new funding to expand within the state of São Paulo by growing its team, increasing production, improving marketing efforts, and more. Vegan Business Vegan Business claims to be the first and only exclusively plant-based equity crowdfunding platform to be approved by the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission. Founded by vegan investor Christian “Crica” Wolthers, its aim is to …

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Willicroft albert heijn

© Willicroft
Investments & Finance

Dutch Plant Based Cheese Producer Willicroft Receives Investment From Vegan VC Firm Capital V

Capital V, the VC firm founded by prolific vegan investor Michiel van Deursen, announces it has funded the Amsterdam based craft cheese producer Willicroft, marking the first investment in the alternative cheese category for Capital V. Founded in 2018 by Brad Vanstone, who was born into a family of UK dairy farmers, the brand’s This is Not Cheese range has more than doubled yearly. After successful rollouts into the Netherlands and Belgium in 2020, Willicroft expanded the range into the UK the following October. The cheeses are currently made with cashews, though the brand is experimenting with other local ingredients that will change the footprint and taste of the product range. Sustainable production Speaking to vegconomist last November, Vanstone explained: “The reason plant-based producers use …

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Dr Mannah's

© Happy Cheeze GmbH
Company News

German Brand Happy Cheeze Announces Rebrand to Dr. Mannah’s

As of now, Dr. Mannah’s Happy Cashew vegan cheese and co-chocolate alternatives, known as Happy Cheeze from 2012, can be found under the new name Dr. Mannah’s. The German producer previously had to rename its brand from Happy Cheeze to Happy Cashew due to a legal dispute which dictated that it was only allowed to call itself cheese if animal milk was included. “Happy Cashew was an obvious choice at the time, as it was visually not too far removed from the original brand name, while also referring to the raw material that forms the basis of our plant-based alternative products,” says Dr. Mudar Mannah, founder and CEO. In the meantime, the company has been busy working on innovations, the first of which will be …

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Forager Project CHEESEWORKS
Products & Launches

Forager Project Debuts Range of Cheeses Created With Priobiotic Cashew Yogurt

Forager Project, a family-run plant-based food company, has recently launched a range of organic, plant-based cheeses. The California brand, which entered into a partnership with Danone’s venture arm Danone Manifesto Ventures in 2019, has created the vegan cheeses in a unique way using its probiotic cashew yoghurt as a base.

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parmela creamery Logo

©Parmela Creamery
Company News

Parmela Creamery Raises $1.25 Million in Series Seed Funding

Parmela Creamery, is a producer of artisanal, plant-based cheeses. Parmela uses traditional cheese making techniques for its cashew-based cheese products, including shreds, slices, sauces, dips, spreads, blocks and a new line of raviolis. The New York company has now raised over $1 million in a Series Seed financing round led by 25Madison. Other investors include Gather Ventures and Luke Abbott.

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Jenny and Kevin Flanagan

© Dairy-Free Down Under
Interviews

Dairy-Free Down Under: “We Have Grown Tenfold Reflecting the Demand”

Good cheese doesn’t depend upon dairy milk as a resource, and this is demonstrated by “Dairy-Free Down Under” – an innovative and family-owned company from Australia who produce cheese alternatives on premium ingredients like cashews, to ensure finest quality. With their gluten-free, GMO free and non-dairy products, they also have huge plans for expanding around the world, as they told us in our exclusive interview.

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