I’ve been obsessed with making little pizzas ever since my visit with Jen. Follow Your Heart shreds are my favorite with Daiya coming in a close second. On a recent run to Trader Joe’s, I decided to pick up some of their branded Vegan Mozzarella Style Shreds.
It gives me no pleasure to say that I thought the Trader Joe’s vegan cheese was, well, yucky.
The shreds have gotten favorable reviews. The positives are that the cheese melts well and is inexpensive compared to Daiya. It also has a lot more calcium in it. More than one review called it the opposite of Daiya, and that’s something that I totally agree with.
The shreds are dry and thin. Upon opening the bag, I took a good whiff and it smelled like cheese. Unlike Daiya and Follow Your Heart, which retain their shape and color, the TJ shreds seemed to ooze into the rest of the ingredients. It definitely melts like real cheese.
All my pizzas have these base ingredients: Flatout flatbread for the crust (this stuff is so great AND vegan), roasted red pepper, and pizza sauce (I really like the Safeway brand pizza sauce… and I am extremely sad that we will be losing our Dominick’s/Safeway stores in Chicago next month). I constructed the ‘za and baked it.
I was definitely weirded out by the discoloration of the cheese and also some of the ooze factor. The first bite tasted had a really sharp taste. There’s definitely something in the cheese to give it this effect. Then, I felt like the cheese was sticking to my teeth and it felt very powdery in my mouth. I sometimes feel like Daiya has this sort of synthetic stickyness to it that I find annoying. This was worse.
I forced myself to eat the rest of the pizza, but I really had to force it down. I don’t think I will give Trader Joe’s Vegan Mozzarella Style Shreds another chance. I’m really glad I tried it, but I would rather have a cheeseless pizza than use it again. Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments! –Melissa
Turning Veganese 
Good to know! I didn’t even know that TJ was starting to carry their own vegan cheese. I might still try it to see what I think, but your review doesn’t make me feel like there is any rush to go seek it out.
I tried it and I prefer Daiya cheese. I haven’t tried the Follow Your Heart cheese yet but it on my list. Sorry you didn’t enjoy your pizza. It looks delicious though.
I am with you. I also tried this product and thought it was FUNKY. That’s the only word that seems appropriate.
I know this site provides quality based articles and
extra stuff, is there any other site which gives these kinds of stuff in quality?
Thank you! I have been looking up reviews of TJ’s vegan moz since I tried it on pizza this weekend and no one talked about the fact that it was like glue after it melted (it could seriously put Elmer’s out of business). I was starting to think I must be a real snot about imitation cheeses but I couldn’t get over the texture! Glad I’m not the only one!!