Miyoko's Kitchen Vegan Cheese Now Available in Knoxville
UPDATE: As of Nov. 14th, Three Rivers now carries Miyoko's Kitchen cultured vegan butter as well as the vegan cheeses listed below.
Miyoko Schinner is the reigning queen of vegan cheese, and her Miyoko's Kitchen cultured nut cheeses are famously better than everything else commercially available.
Luckily for Knoxville, they are now commercially available here, through our dear friends at Three Rivers Market. The Miyoko's Kitchen website also lists Whole Foods, but I checked with our store and they confirmed that they do not carry it.
They currently carry 3 kinds of Miyoko's Creamery vegan cheeses:
Aged English Smoked Farmhouse - "Semi-hard with rich, smoky sharpness that lingers. Serve with crackers, in sandwiches, or in sauces."
Double Cream Sundried Tomato Garlic - "Creamy and robust with deep mediterranean flavors, great on crackers or melted on pasta."
Classic Double Cream Chive - "Buttery, savory, mild herbal garlic flavor. This versatile spread is delicious on crackers or in a sandwich."
Of course, I had to try them all to write this blog post, and I'm torn on whether the Smoked Farmhouse or the Sundried Tomato Garlic is my favorite. I just kept going back and forth between them, loading up crackers and trying to figure it out. The struggle is real, y'all!
By the way, you can find recipes using these cheeses, including Sundried Tomato Risotto, Double Cream Chive Mashed Potatoes, and Smoked Farmhouse Quesadillas, on the Miyoko's Kitchen blog.
What makes this vegan cheese so special (and worth $8.99 for a 6.5 oz wheel)? Unlike most store-bought vegan cheeses that try to mimic the flavors of dairy cheese with flavorings, Miyoko's Kitchen uses traditional cheesemaking methods to culture and, in some cases, age their cheeses.
You know that tangy mouthfeel that "real" cheese has that's so often lacking from vegan cheese? That's not from dairy, that's from the cultures used to turn milks of all kinds into cheeses. For whatever reason (cost, time, etc.), most vegan cheese brands don't do this, so people perennially complain that vegan cheese just doesn't taste like the real thing.
If that has been you, head over to Three Rivers and try one of these babies. You can also order from the full line of Miyoko's Kitchen products at their website. But trust me, if you explore the delicious-sounding and beautifully photographed cheeses on the site before you go to pick up your haul at Three Rivers, you'll regret it. So make sure to browse with snack in hand.