Vegetarian Parmesan

henryporter

Just letting y'all know that there is a very viable alternative to parmesan made right here in Ireland by the West Cork Natural Cheese Company, which is called 'Gabriel' cheese. They also make one called 'Desmond' which is equally tasty and another good substitute. Not available in many places as far as I can make out - I have to get mine whenever I go to Belfast (which is not too often), so if anyone knows what other specialist cheese shops do it in Dublin or wherever let us know. I'm not related to the company by the way, just like me pasta with a bit of cheese is all!

Slaphead07

Tesco stock Mature Gabriel cheese. Grating it gives a workout worthy of an Olympian though.

henryporter

Going into Tescos would be a bigger problem that grating the cheese for me! Thanks for the heads up though.

tricky D

Regato can also do the trick

Thoushaltnot

Slaphead07 wrote: »

Tesco stock Mature Gabriel cheese. Grating it gives a workout worthy of an Olympian though.

Hmm, which Tescos have you seen this in? I've checked a few - Rathmines, Dundrum, Jervis Centre, the Express on Camden St. but no joy.

It's easy enough to get yer hands on dairy free Parmazano grated hard cheese replacer though, by Life Free From.

Slaphead07

Thoushaltnot wrote: »

Hmm, which Tescos have you seen this in? I've checked a few - Rathmines, Dundrum, Jervis Centre, the Express on Camden St. but no joy.

I've bought it in Dundrum. The lovely people at Tescos have a habit of spreading products around the store so there are 2 or even 3 places where you can find cheese. I've found the gabriel cheese at a stand near the back wall, past the bakery section.

Weyhey

Sheridans Cheesemongers on South Anne Street, Superquinn and possibly Fallon and Byrne. Desmond is very very strong and Gabriel a bit milder.

Blazing Salads also stock a parmesan style cheese alternative (the vegan sort).

By the way when I was buying Desmond in Sheridans (where they give you a taste before you buy) they mentioned that the makers of Gubbeen (to me one of the first known good irish cheese makers to use vegetarian rennet) have decided to go the traditional route and switch to traditional/animal rennet in their cheese. Tut tut. Anyone willing to email them to try change their minds their email is cheese@gubbeen.com

henryporter

Interesting that about Gubeen - I think its one of the cheeses that Dennis Cotter of Cafe Paradiso uses alot - not any more if that's the case!

Thoushaltnot

henryporter wrote: »

Interesting that about Gubeen - I think its one of the cheeses that Dennis Cotter of Cafe Paradiso uses alot - not any more if that's the case!

Do you think he knows? They didn't exactly take out a full page advert in the 'Times about this, did they?

I'd imagine the threat of losing regular business there would carry more weight with them, than a few random emails from veg*n individuals.

Not that we should quit with the individual emails, tho...

henryporter

Just found out Sheridans Cheesemongers have opened a shop in a short distance from Kells in Co. Meath - also their website has a list of cheeses available in their shops which lists the type of rennet used in each cheese - alot of interesting Irish ones using vegetarian renet. Think i'll be going to Kells on monday...:D

GregoriChukov

Hi there,

I wrote to Gubbeen last year and asked them why they changed their rennet and whether they would be changing back or providing a vegetarian alternative. I found their response to be very disappointing.

They were perfectly polite and gave a reason but they will not be making a vegetarian alternative. Their reason for changing was "for grading".

They said:
"The Traditional rennet simply holds the quality as you cure on your cheeses - there are tiny but significant
differences in the cheese once they have gone over two months and at 6 months and on the difference is
actually huge in flavour and grading quality"

I found this annoying as most people will eat their cheeses within six months so it seems that they care more about prizes for aged cheese than their loyal customers. Still, damning as it is, that's their business model.


Laura

Btw, Here is the full response I got



"Dear Laura,

Thanks you so much for your interesting letter.


I think - not sure - that we were in fact the first Irish Vegetarian cheese when we started to make the
Smokies in 1985.


A lot of time has passed and a great deal of lessons learnt in that time - in particularly the science
of cheesemaking.


You are right, yes we changed back to traditional rennet about 4 years ago - not because of the GM involvement
although that was always a concern for some people, no, it was for grading.


The Traditional rennet simply holds the quality as you cure on your cheeses - there are tiny but significant
differences in the cheese once they have gone over two months and at 6 months and on the difference is
actually huge in flavour and grading quality.


So sadly I am letting my vegetarian friends down. So sorry,


I do know there are still lots of great vegetarian dairies out there though, all is not lost!


Very best,


Giana




Giana Ferguson,
Gubbeen Farmhouse Products, Ltd.,
Gubbeen House,
Schull, Co. Cork.
Ireland.

fatb0y

Wow, that's a real pity about Gubbeen...

Wish they just had the Kraft vegetarian parmesan in Europe as they do in the states :-p well I guess that's not going to happen.

I came across a hard goats cheese at Tesco in their new 'Tesco Cheeses of Ireland' range. It's called Tullyboy Goats Cheese. I can't however find way to confirm if it is vegetarian or uses traditional rennet... anyone come across this and know if this is suitable for vegetarians or not?

Thanks in advance!