The French-sounding Le Rond by Violife looks on the packaging to have a camembert shape, and it notes on the front to also have a ‘camembert flavour’. Impressive is the long shelf-life, it can still be kept for another 8 months after we purchased and reviewed it. This is one of the longest shelf lives we have seen so far on the cheeses we reviewed.
The main ingredients are coconut oil and modified starch, which texture is notable when tasting the cheese. While unspecified what the starch is derived from on the packaging, it is likely potato starch, as the Violife website FAQ mention: “All Violife products contain potato starch (either native or modified).” 1
Le Rond wholly consists of the same smooth paste, firm and quite wet to the touch, so no rind or drier, crumbly parts as in a semi-aged type of cheese like camembert. Based on the packaging information and appearance, we assume this cheese does not go through the traditional camembert-like cheese-making phases of fermentation and ripening, which are replaced by added flavouring and colouring agents.
The end product, while shaped and intended to be flavoured as a camembert-like vegan cheese, in our view does not have the taste, mouthfeel, nor look of a camembert cheese. The taste we would describe primarily as buttery, and then a bit on the salty, acidy side. The taste reminds us of the feta-like ‘Greek White’ block from Violife. Since it is an oil- and starch-based vegan cheese, we find (as more often with such cheeses) that the mouthfeel does not coincide with the protein-based mouthfeel more similar to dairy cheese, which could be achieved on the other hand for example with a vegan cheese based on nuts.
Also, as it is made form oil and starch, there is very limited amount of protein in the cheese (we understand only small amounts from the starch), whereas in a nut-based vegan cheese we reviewed, like those based on cashews, the protein content could be around 10% – 15% of the weight of the cheese. On the other hand, the advantage of the oil and starch base of the cheese is that is melts very well, typically much better than the nut-based vegan cheeses.
In conclusion, we would not place this on our cheese platter if we are looking for a camembert-like vegan cheese in look, taste and mouthfeel. For us, the main potential use would be as part of a recipe which requires a large amount of melted vegan cheese or salty butter. This use as a cooking ingredient is also suggested by Violife, as a nice little ‘recipe guide’ for potential uses of Le Rond was included in the package, and more recipe ideas can be found on the Violife website.
