‘Smoked’ is the second vegan cheese we review from Quevana, after recently reviewing ‘Truffled‘. As these products have the same base and only the flavouring differs, many of our observations are the same: it is competitively priced for an organic cashew-based cheese that has aged several weeks, and its few, low-processed ingredients make it a healthy alternative for dairy cheese. The shelf life is in this case even longer: the “best before” date is given as August 2025, for a cheese we bought and reviewed in April 2024.

The smoky flavour is the result of a natural smoking process in a wood-fired oven. The smoking of the cheese is also visible in the colouring difference of the rind compared to the inside of the cheese, where the rind has obtained shades of orange and light-brown colouring.

As with Truffled, the cheese comes from the vacuum packaging a bit oily on the outside, probably the result of the natural oils in the cashews that are abundantly present in the ingredients at 85%, according to the packaging.

The vegan cheese-making of Quevana is similar to the fermentino-style of vegan cheese from Italy. It is based on only a few ingredients, with a base of nuts, water, salt and ferments, followed by natural drying. Also, for both types processing is low, and the base of protein-rich nuts provides a healthy alternative for dairy cheese.

We enjoy the taste, which is clearly smoky, with tones of earthy vegetables like potato, onion, leek and the sweet-sour from the fermented cashew. As its base is a nut-paste, it does not melt well, however it is quite spreadable for use on toast for example. As with Truffled, the taste is the main draw for us and why we do add it to our cheese platter.