Ilchester has launched its first-ever standalone plant-based cheezes as 200g blocks after they featured in the Ilchester Vegan Festive Selection last Christmas.
The Ilchester Vegan Blue features unique blue spirulina veins to mimic the look of blue cheese and has the same creamy texture and sharp and salty taste of the dairy version.
While the Ilchester Vegan Melting Mature is set to be the mature vegan cheddar cheeze known for sharing the same meltability factor as dairy cheddar cheeses, something that vegans have often said lacks in other plant-based cheezes.
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Ilchester, which has been making cheese in Somerset since 1962, is part of the Norseland portfolio of dairy and vegan cheezes, which includes the award-winning Applewood Vegan and Mexicana Vegan cheezes.
Applewood Vegan is now the number two vegan cheeze brand in the UK only 18 months after launching and much of its success is down to the fact that it melts like dairy cheese.
This winning formula has been applied to the Ilchester Vegan Blue and the Ilchester Vegan Melting Mature to create cheezes with the perfect “M Factor”.
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Lisa Harrison, Brand Manager for Ilchester, said: “We trialled the Vegan Blue and the Melting Mature Vegan cheeze in our first-ever Ilchester Vegan Festive Selection last Christmas alongside the award-winning Applewood Vegan and Mexicana Vegan,
“The cheezeboard proved so popular that the supermarkets that were stocking them put in more orders in the run-up to Christmas.
“We were also overwhelmed by customers asking us if we were going to launch the Vegan Blue and the Vegan Melting Mature as standalone cheezes this year, which prompted us to look at how viable an option this was, and of course to find a supermarket to list them, so we were thrilled when Tesco wanted to come on board.
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“We know that the demand is there and that vegans, vegetarians and flexitarians alike are looking for healthier and tasty alternatives to dairy cheeses. Total Sales of Applewood Vegan are worth £5.1 million, and in the latest 52-week period, sales have grown by 168%, so we are confident that applying our winning formula – using coconut oil as a base for our cheezes – to our two new products will create more award-winning cheezes from the Norseland portfolio.”
Both the Ilchester Vegan Blue and the Ilchester Melting Mature Cheddar are free from dairy, lactose, soya, gluten, cholesterol and palm oil. Fortified with vitamin B12 and calcium.
The Ilchester Vegan Blue and the Ilchester Melting Mature Cheddar are available to buy from 319 Tesco across the UK and online from 5 July in 200g formats. Their RRPs are £3 and £2.35 respectively.
*This is a paid advertorial for Ilchester
Use Ilchester’s Vegan Blue or Vegan Melting Mature in our Vegan Cheese-Stuffed Big Daddy Burger!