Jean-Jacques is the orange washed-rind type of vegan cheese made by Jay & Joy. This French vegan cheese maker is successfully producing tasty nut-based alternatives to dairy cheeses, inspired by traditional cheese-making techniques of fermentation and aging.
Dairy washed-rind cheeses can be found anywhere on a wide range of smell and taste, from mild to strongly pungent and stinky of sweaty feet. This vegan version is on the milder end of the smell and taste range. The taste is primarily mushroomy to us, with clear notes of earthy vegetables as onion and garlic. This taste is actually quite similar to other Jay & Joy cheeses. Whereas a washed-rind dairy cheese would get its tasty orange coloured rind from a class of bacteria called ‘Brevibacterium linens’1, this cheese appears to lack this bacteria on the rind and instead to obtain its colour, based on the ingredient list, from ‘organic urucum’, which a source of orange colour for food.2 The absence of B. linens then explains the absence of a smelly feet smell, which some may appreciate.
The washed rind of the cheese is somewhat taken over by a white mould, which seems to be expected for this cheese. What is probably not intended though, is that on all of three occasions we bought this cheese the packaging paper was sticking to the cheese. As can be seen on the picture, when unwrapping the packaging paper tore and part of the paper was still sticking to the cheese. So, it needs some careful examination when unwrapping that all paper is separated from the cheese and we would advise Jay & Joy to consider other wrapping alternatives here.
All in all, when cleaning the paper from the cheese, this is a nice addition to a vegan cheese platter. We noted it is advertised as a vegetable alternative to Maroilles cheese. We have not had the opportunity yet to try Maroilles, so cannot judge the similarities and differences. Have you tried both Maroilles and Jean-Jacques? Please let us know your thoughts on the comparison below.
