This is the first vegan cheese that we classified in the aging category as ‘Old’. Aged Gondino resembles a mature, hard cheese. Pangea Food, the independent producer from Tuscany, Italy, mentions on the website that it recalls pecorino”.1 For those new to pecorino: it is made from sheep’s milk and the name ‘pecorino’ is derived from ‘pecora’, which means ‘sheep’ in Italian.2
Aged Gondino comes vacuum sealed in plastic. Its main ingredients are a combination of potato starch and coconut oil. Compared to other vegan cheeses with those main ingredients, it appears to have relatively more potato starch (exceptionally, the starch comes before the oil in the ingredients list). Next, 14.9% of the weight is made up of chickpea flour. This high in starch and flour combination appears to result in a comparatively dry, hard cheese, giving it a more aged texture. It is easy to slice fine slivers of cheese off the block, or to grate it over a dish. It does also mean it is highest cheese in carbohydrates we have reviewed so for (28 grams per 100 grams) and it is less meltabie than typical with a coconut oil based vegan cheese, as in our meltability test a slice of Aged Gondino did not melt under the grill.
Our experience on the taste of coconut oil and starch based vegan cheeses so far hasn’t exactly been great. Therefore, we were quite surprised that Gondino does have a taste that comes quite close to a mature pecorino. We thought it had nutty and earthy vegetable notes, a bit tangy and pretty salty. The saltiness is something we also taste in a mature pecorino, probably even more so. Also, Aged Gondino in our view is milder than a mature pecorino, which can be more intense or pungent. Additionally, the texture is different to pecorino in that it is a bit softer while still hard, and it is more solid and heavier, it lacks holes as in pecorino.
Conclusion
While we see quite a few websites categorising Aged Gondino as parmesan-style, we clearly agree with Pangea Food it most closely resembles pecorino. For both texture and taste, we think Aged Gondino is principally very suitable for freshly grating over a pasta or risotto. It could also makes an interesting addition to a cheese platter, pairing with some fresh sweet-acidy fruit like pear and apple, possibly with honey for added sweetness.
