The ‘original fermentino’ placed us in a bit of a quandary when first reviewing it. If we would review it as a vegan cheese, then there are obvious differences between the fermentino and a dairy product: the look, taste and mouthfeel are different. However, we quickly realised that does not mean it cannot be appreciated as a good and healthy alternative to cheese.1
Fermentino was developed by in cooperation with the university of Bologna, as a healthy alternative to dairy cheese, one that has relatively few ingredients and natural fermentation. Cicioni is a fermentino that is a 100% plant-based fermentation of almonds and cashew nuts, water, salt without the herbs and spices or mould for flavour or appearance taht canbe found in other fermentinos. It ripens about 7 days to acquire its taste and texture.
In the taste we noted first the fresh acidity, then a balance in savoury, bitter and salty. We enjoyed the taste, with vegetable, nutty and spicy notes all from the natural fermentation and ripening. The texture is that of a dry, nutty paste and it does not melt when grilling.
Based on the mixed of 38% almonds and 38% cashew nuts, this fermentino scores very high in protein with 17% of its weight, and low on saturated fatty acids at 5.1% of its weight. To get an idea, that is in the range of five times more protein and five times less saturated fatty acids than we regularly would find in the vegan cheeses based on coconut oil and modified starch.
In conclusion, Cicioni is certainly a tasty and healthy alternative to dairy cheese. When rating, we primarily have a cheese platter setting in mind and how we would enjoy it there. Cicioni could be enjoyed on a cheese platter setting, combined with for examples some crackers. At the same time, we would prefer other fermentinos for that use, like Camelia with its bloomy rind or Fermè with the added herbs and flowers, so we rated Cicioni slightly below those from that perspective. As an ingredient in a recipe, healthy Cicioni could do as well as any other dairy cheese alternative, depending on the taste and texture you are looking for.
