Follow Your Heart quietly dropped the “Vegan Gourmet” on their shreds, so they’re now just Follow Your Heart Dairy Free Shreds. It looks like the company is keeping Vegan Gourmet on their one remaining soy-based product line, but using Follow Your Heart on their soy-free lines – which includes their shreds!
Follow Your Heart Dairy Free Shreds come in Classic Cheese Flavors
We bought these allergy-friendly cheese shreds to try, and even shared them with extended family and friends. The reviews were overwhelmingly positive.
Below are details on each flavor, and I’ve included tasting notes on the varieties that we tried. I’m also leaving my own rating in the reviews at the bottom of this post – you can too if you’ve tried Follow Your Heart Dairy Free Shreds.
Mozzarella
The Mozzarella was excellent on some Summertime Tomato Melts from Family Feasts for $75 a Week by Mary Ostyn. Those of us who know the taste of dairy cheese noted the tangy cheese flavor in the mozzarella that is sometimes missing from dairy-free cheeses. Note that this variety doesn’t melt quite as readily as the others, but still offers a relatively cheesy consistency.
Ingredients: filtered water, organic palm fruit oil†*, modified corn and potato starches, natural flavors (plant sources), less than 2% of: pea fiber, pea starch, bamboo fiber, calcium phosphate, rice flour, organic vegetable glycerin*, cellulose, sunflower lecithin, sea salt, carrageenan (vegetable source), calcium sulfate, citric acid, xanthan gum, disodium phosphate, sodium citrate. † rainforest alliance certified.
Nutrition (per 1 ounce): 80 calories, 6g fat, 6g carbs, 0g fiber, 0g sugars (includes 0g added sugars), 0g protein.*
Cheddar
This variety was great on grilled turkey burgers. These shreds melt and stretch just like dairy cheese! And again, the cheddar has that elusive cheesy tang, making it appealing to dairy cheese eaters and non-dairy eaters alike.
Nutrition (per 1 ounce): 80 calories, 7g fat, 6g carbs, 0g fiber, 0g sugars (includes 0g added sugars), 0g protein.*
Fiesta Blend
We served the Fiesta Blend as an accompaniment for a fajita night. The jalepeno peppers made this cheese alternative a bit spicy for some of the children, but the adults enjoyed it. Our two newly dairy-free guests said they planned to look for Follow Your Heart Dairy Free Shreds in stores where they live.
Ingredients: filtered water, organic palm fruit oil*†, modified food starch, natural flavors (plant sources), less than 2% of: pea fiber, pea starch, bamboo fiber, nutritional yeast, calcium phosphate, rice flour, vegetable glycerin, sunflower lecithin, sea salt, sunflower oil, lactic acid (vegetable source), carrageenan (vegetable source), calcium sulfate, citric acid, enzymes, annatto (for color), xanthan gum, disodium phosphate, sodium citrate. † rainforest alliance certified.
Nutrition (per 1 ounce): 80 calories, 6g fat, 6g carbs, 0g fiber, 0g sugars (includes 0g added sugars), 0g protein.*
Pizzeria
This is the one flavor we haven’t found yet! It’s a blend of their mozzarella shreds and Parmesan shreds.
Nutrition (per 1 ounce): 80 calories, 7g fat, 7g carbs, 0g fiber, 0g sugars (includes 0g added sugars), 0g protein.*
The Facts on Follow Your Heart Dairy Free Shreds (formerly Vegan Gourmet)
Price: $3.99 per 8-ounce bag
Availability: Follow Your Heart Dairy Free Shreds are sold at natural food stores and various mainstream grocers, like Walmart, Albertons, and Publix.
Certifications: Follow Your Heart Dairy Free Shreds are Non-GMO Verified and Certified Kosher Parve.
Dietary Notes: By ingredients, Follow Your Heart Dairy Free Shreds are dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, vegan, and vegetarian.*
For More Product Information: Visit the Follow Your Heart website at www.followyourheart.com
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What Others Are Saying ...
New formulas melts great
My husband and I are lactose intolerant so we mostly eat dairy free. Occasionally we take lactaid pills and eat cheese so unlike those who have been vegan for a long time, we know how real cheese tastes. These shreds are the closest thing I’ve found to actual cheese. We think Daiya tastes disgusting (we had to spit it out and throw away the shreds) but this stuff is decent enough to eat out of the bag. It melts well and still has a stickyish enough consistency so it works well in mac and cheese.
Essence of plastic
Immediately upon tasting this product the first thing I noticed was the texture and taste had a similarity to cheese. Fast forward 2 seconds, the consistency turned to flour and the taste was replaced by the essence of cardboard and plastic. As much as I wanted to like this product it turns out I did not. I did not try melting this on something but cannot imagine melting will change the awful taste.
Little flavor
Ok
Great flavor
Our entire family, immediate and extended, enjoyed this dairy-free and soy-free cheese alternative. Many comments were made about the perfect cheesy tang. The only qualm is that a couple of the varieties required extra coaxing to melt.
9 Comments
These cheese smell and taste HORRIBLE. Would not recommend at all. Left horrible after taste and ruined my meal
Not a fan…left an “after taste” and difficult to melt.
I’d recommend trying just the Follow Your Heart cheeses, not their Vegan Gourmet line. It’s hard to see the difference in the store (packaging is SO similar), but the two are very different.
I find the cheese tasting really plasticky. Better to make your own one as at least, all the ingredients you will use will be natural, and there won’t be any unhealthy additives. After all, it’s still processed food, and because it says vegan, it doesn’t mean it’s good for you considering the additives.
Sarah, I have a question: where were you able to purchase these Vegan Gourmet shreds? I have checked their company’s website, and they list stores in my area as carriers, but they only carry OTHER “Follow Your Heart / Vegan Gourmet” products — like Vegenaise, etc. our family has a unique requirement of needing our foods to now be gluten-, dairy-, AND soy-free — a challenging combination to easily access in the marketplace… any suggestions? I checked amazon.com and saw certain items listed, but none are actually these particular shreds. i’d really appreciate ANY help you could to head me in the right direction! Thanks SO much for your time and attention. Sarah!
Lisa, thus far, I’ve only seen them at Whole Foods. It is a relatively new product, so the distribution may not be far and wide just yet.
Lisa, I hope Alisa’s reply helps. I look forward to finding them locally in my stores someday, too!
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