Thursday, October 29, 2009

Broken Promises




To start off, I am breaking my promise to not mention Daiya for the rest of 'mofo. Why? Because today I procured about 2 pounds worth of "Block Cheddar." Thinking that this has to be the most amazing find ever, I brought it home. My drive home was anxious, as the smell drifted out of my bag, despite the tight wrapping of said block. My car reeked of CHEESE. Not of fake-smelling-weird-chemical-cheese, but it stank of the real deal! This only made my anticipation worse. I cut off a slice about 1/4 inch thick. I cut that slice into 6 rectangles. I got out 4 saltine crackers. Placed 4 pieces on the crackers, leaving 2 unadorned pieces to savor on their own. Took an eager bite of one of the lonely chunks. Nearly spit it out. Not good. Actually, it tasted quite like I remember cheddar, but the texture definitely left something to be desired. I placed the 2nd lonely piece on another cracker, knowing I would not eat it cold and alone. Still, not good at all. I was beginning to get depressed. I placed the remaining 4 cheese and crackers on a plate and zapped them in the microwave for 30 seconds...guess what?



PERFECTION!!!

I sincerely recommend the following:

DO NOT eat Daiya Block Cheddar cold, on it's own, or on a cracker.

DO enjoy it on a grilled cheese, or other toasty sandwich, or any other place you'd enjoy a thick, melty, gooey, stretchy bit of cheese.

DO continue to enjoy the shredded variety on pizza, in mac and cheese, tossed in a salad, or any other way you can think of to use it.

The key (for me, anyways) to enjoying Daiya, is to melt it.

6 comments:

Mihl said...

I can't get Daiya here, but I wanted to tell you that I made the Smoked Cashew Cheese recipe from 500 vegan recipes last week and it rocked so much! My favourite cheese recipe now. And it is even freezable.

Tiana said...

I'm in OC often and was wondering, where did you get the 2 lb block of Daiya cheese? They don't have it at Mother's Market and the last time I went to Whole Foods in Tustin it wasn't there either.

Joni Marie Newman said...

Tiana,
It's not quite available as block cheddar in the cheese department yet. If you go to the Deli at the WF in Laguna, you can get it (They have it for sandwiches.) $9.99/lb

julie hasson said...

I hear you on this Joni! I love it melted, but not so much if it's not.

bazu said...

I find this with a lot of vegan cheeses- MUCH better when heated!

Wendi said...

I did almost exactly the same as you did, sans crackers since I'm allergic to wheat. We got a 5 lb block of the stuff and cut it up into smaller portions, freezing all but one of the portions. The first thing I did though was to cut myself a big old hunk like I used to do with Tillamook cheddar, and pop it cold into my mouth. GROSS. Heated=awesome, cold=sadface.

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