Since 2017 Rosie & Riffy follow their passion of creating plant-based, 100% dairy-free, vegan and organic alternatives to cheese. Their exciting and and at the same time challenging journey brought innovation to the cheese sector and is here to stay & grow. Therefore, Rosie & Riffyβs mission is to contribute to a more sustainable world by creating high quality plant based products. Moreover, they are addressing the challenges of environmental and climate changes, health and well-being of all. For this reason, they plan to deliver in Europe and beyond! To be part of a better world they are working hard on scaling up.
We had the honor to interview Tina da Rosa, the co-founder of Rosie & Riffy , offering different handcrafted cheese kinds made from nuts in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Have you tried one of their products yet ?
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Curious how vegan cheese is made? Learn more about their handcrafted, delicious specialities in this article. We will dive deeper into the topic of how to produce vegan cheese. Discover how you can implement this amazing diary-free alternativ to your diet.
Q: How are Rosie & Riffyβs cheeses made?
A: Our Cashew nut-based cheeses are made very much like conventional cheese. We like to keep our ingredients as basic as possible so all that you will find in the base of all our products at the moment are cashew nuts, water, bacteria for the fermentation and salt. As you can we like to keep it simple, honest and healthy.
In other words, we use the same techniques as cheesemaking but with some tweaks to accommodate the differences in the raw material. Instead of using animal milk we start with a nut puree and use lactic acid bacteria to ferment the puree.
The acidity from the fermentation brings out flavors and changes the texture. At this stage, what you have is very similar to sour cream. Then it goes into a cheese cloth and the excess water gets drained away and what you have then is a very fresh cream cheese. In a next step, we dry it into Creamy Cashew Wheels or ripen into Camemberti.
Q: What are the benefits of vegan cheese?
A: Plant-based cheeses are very beficial in that it skips over the whole process of impregnating an animal in order to produce milk. By eliminating that whole process we are not only able to eliminate the greenhouse gasses associated with belching cows but also the inefficiencies of the supply chain.
Calves need to be feed and kept for two years before being inseminated. Once they are in the cycle of being impregnated and giving milk they are slaughtered after three births because milk production is reduced. As a consequence, they only have a lifespan of five years of life, two unproductive years and three of those years giving milk. If you take a cashew tree it takes about three years to get a full harvest but lives and gives fruit/nuts for up to 25 years.
So, plant-based cheeses have the benefit of being more environmentally friendly but also more efficient and sustainable.Β We can sit here and say how good it is for the planet but what about the consumer? Is it good for them?
Surely, we have given a big push to improve the quality of plant-based cheeses. We have recognized that taste and ingredient quality are so important in supporting people who want to make a switch to a plant-based diet. In the end, we need to have products that are good for us as well. Right?
Thatβs why we choose not to fill our cheeses with oil or fillers and use organic cashew nuts from a fairtrade supplier. This way we can benefit our customers, the farmers and workers of cashew nuts and the planet as well. Itβs an all-round win situation.
Q: What are recipes with vegan cheese?
A: Yes, we there are various vegan recipes that include our vegan cheese.
Rosie & Riffy cheeses donβt melt yet. Iβve had the most success making stuffing for pasta shells with our Creamy Cashew Wheels. You can mix it with spinach, pesto, sweet potato and use this to stuff pasta and bake it with tomato sauce.
Our Camemerti can be lightly heated and used to top any salad. At Restaurant the George in Oisterwijk they made a beautiful salad with grilled spring onions, beets and mustard seeds.
Have you tried Rosie & Riffyβs products yet ?
You can now buy them online in our shop.
Interview conducted by Stefanie Behrendt, founder of wegozero
