With summer now in full swing, this is the time to fire up the grill (or frying pan) for vegan burgers. There’s no reason for meat eaters to have all of the fun when the possibilities for animal-free burgers are endless.

Building a great vegan burger is easy; all it takes is the right ingredients and a good appetite. Today, I’m sharing tips and techniques to help build a better burger so you have no more excuses for mediocre burgers.

There are 4 components to a great burger:

1. The patty
2. The bun
3. The condiments
4. The fixin’s (That’s right, there’s no G in fixin’s)

Some people say that 3 and 4 above count as one component. I say they’re important enough to be considered separately.

The Patty

If it isn’t already clear as it is with everything, homemade beats store bought anytime, anyplace and anyhow. Sometimes there just isn’t time to make your own, and thankfully for those times there are several decent burgers that can be bought in pretty much any major supermarket.

When you have the time, there are so many vegan burger recipes that you could cook one daily for several years and not cook the same burger twice. One of my favorites is the black bean burger from the Rebar Cookbook, and for a low fat healthier alternative, there’s the Chicago Diner burger. A grilled portabello mushroom also makes a fine burger, and opens the door to a great variety of options for condiments and fixin’s. You’ll also find dozens of burger recipes on VegWeb.

The Bun

Seeded buns rock, but the single most important thing when it comes to buns is softness. Maybe you want your spouse or partner to have rock hard buns of steel, but for a burger, hard means trouble. Serve your burger in a hard or crispy bun and 9 times out of 10, the burger will squirt out the back and sides on the first bite. Not only is it messy, but it’s also really difficult to reconstruct. You might as well get a knife and fork and give up on holding it in your hand.

A good bun will be soft enough so when you bite into it, the burger and fixin’s stay in their proper place: between the bread. A little drip of sauce or ketchup is not a problem, a big chunk of burger flying out is. While bagels may seem to be tailor made for burgers, despite the appropriate size and shape, most of them are too hard and dense. Plus, if you’re not careful, the hole can cause all kinds of trouble.

The Condiments

Ketchup is the old standby, and while there’s nothing wrong with it, there are many other possibilities. In the burger pictured above, I opted to use ketchup mixed with two parts of Vegenaise and a spoonful of relish for a creamy and slightly tangy thousand island dressing. The secret to the tang is using dill pickle relish instead of sweet relish.

But there’s no reason to stop there. Blend half of a roasted red pepper with Vegenaise and you’ve got aioli. Add some hot sauce to give it a little kick. Want a little Mexican flavor? Use salsa. Using a portabello mushroom as your patty? Spread some pesto on your bun, and then go really Italian and put your burger on focaccia. We’re just scratching the surface here. Romesco sauce, chutney, barbecue sauce, stoneground mustard…even a mole can take your burger out of the ordinary.

The Fixin’s

I stuck to the basics in the photo above, but there’s no need for you to do that. In fact, this is where you can really go nuts. Sure there are the old standbys like lettuce, tomatoes, onions (unless you’re Scott Conant), and pickles, but why limit yourself? Sauerkraut, roasted peppers and avocado will add new flavor and textures to your burger. Caramelized onions? Yes! Tempeh bacon, slaw or sautéed spinach? Yes, yes YES! Marshmallows? NO! We’re making burgers here, not s’mores!

And yes again: Cheese! Daiya melts so easily that it’s not even necessary to do anything other than flip your burger, add the cheese on top, and close the grill or put a lid on the pan to keep the heat in to melt the cheese. With other vegan cheeses, it’s usually necessary to put a little water in the pan to create enough steam to achieve melt.

Be sure to match the cheese to your sauce and burger. If you’re preparing a portabello and pesto burger, mozzarella is going to be a much better match than cheddar. Doing a Mexican burger? Cheddar and salsa are the ticket. You can even use a tortilla instead of a bun.

It’s hard to over stress the need to use quality ingredients. Ripe tomatoes will add an amazing sweet juiciness to your burger that you’ll never get from one of those hard, pink objects that pass for tomatoes in some stores. Don’t settle for iceberg lettuce when there are so many other varieties that actually have flavor.

When putting everything together, it’s important to put all of the components in the proper place. Thicker, fattier condiments can go right on the bun, preferably on top and bottom. Condiments that are thinner and more watery such as salsa are better when placed on top of the patty and below the fixin’s so they don’t make the bun soggy.

While this is far from exhaustive, it should be enough to get you started making great burgers. They can be healthy or decadent and everything in between. Have a favorite burger? Leave a comment and tell me what it is.

If you’ve ever experienced the pleasure of driving or bicycling through the scenic Alexander Valley in Sonoma, chances are you passed by or even stopped at the Jimtown Store on Highway 128. Although they cater to all types of eaters, the Jimtown store makes one of the best vegan spreads I’ve ever tasted: Chopped Olive Spread. A mix of chopped green & black olives, capers, spices, olive oil and garlic, it is quickly becoming my condiment of choice for sandwiches and wraps.

Don’t confuse Jimtown’s Olive Spread with a tapenade. While there are similarities, the texture is chunkier than the usual tapenade and has a more robust olive flavor. I’ve slathered it it on bread, crackers, tortillas…pretty much any place I’d use margarine, mayo, mustard, hummus or any other spread. In fact, it goes great with hummus. The combination the rich olive flavor with the lemony chickpea hummus flavor is a winner.

Making a sandwich or wrap? Mash some avocado, add the olive spread, pile on the other ingredients for a change from the same old same old.

The good news is that you don’t have to be in Sonoma to try it for yourself. Whole Foods and other markets carry Jimtown Store’s Olive Spread, and if you’re fortunate enough to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you can find the big 24 ounce container at Costco for less than the price of two 7 ounce containers at Whole Foods. While it may not replace the jars of Vegenaise and mustard in your refrigerator, you may find yourself reaching for them less frequently.

Jimtown Store
jimtown.com

Chopped Olive Spread

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There are very few aromas that are appealing as fresh baked cookies coming out of the oven. Of course, to get cookies hot out of the oven you’ve got to invest in some quality ingredients and take the time to precisely measure and combine those ingredients. It’s much easier to just tear open a bag of Uncle Eddies cookies, but it’s not quite the same.

For those who want fresh baked cookies but don’t have the time or desire to make them from scratch, Eat Pastry makes a several varieties of refrigerated vegan cookie dough that will have hot cookies coming out of the oven in less than 20 minutes. It’s as simple as scooping the dough onto a cookie sheet and sliding it into the oven.

So can a pre-made store bought cookie dough compete with cookies made from scratch? In this case, not quite. I opened a container of Eat Pastry’s Chocolate Chunk cookie dough and of course had to taste a spoonful before scooping the dough onto a cookie sheet. The raw dough tasted great and I was confident that it would make an excellent cookie. But what came out of the oven was a disappointment.

The first thing I noticed was that despite being named Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough, this dough has chocolate chips, not chunks. It may seem like a minor quibble, but there is a difference. Those who are expecting chunks, which given the name would probably be everybody, will be disappointed.

The flavor of the cookies was pretty good, but where the Eat Pastry cookies fell short was the texture. I’m partial to soft chewy cookies, but these were soft and dense. Not dense like a good fudgy brownie, but dense in a way that made chewing seem like a chore. Eating cookies should never, EVER be a chore (as if I even needed to say that). I saved one cookie for the next day and it had an even more unpleasantly dense texture.

The dough that remained in the container after that first batch of cookies never found its way into the oven. It gradually disappeared over the next few days, spoonful by spoonful. I really enjoyed the taste of the raw dough. If I was making a batch of cookie dough ice cream, I wouldn’t hesitate to use Eat Pastry dough. But the next time I’m craving fresh baked cookies, I’ll be making them from scratch. Otherwise, I’ll just get a bag of Uncle Eddie’s and keep the oven turned off.

Eat Pastry Cookie Dough is available in the San Francisco bay area at Mollie Stone’s and Rainbow Grocery. It can also be found all over California at Whole Foods Market.

Eat Pastry Cookie Dough
eatpastry.com

Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough

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I’m starting to come out of the sugar hangover. It’s still a bit of a blur, but the last thing I clearly remember from Saturday is standing outside Herbivore restaurant on Valencia Street and handing over several large bills in exchange for boxes full of cookies, donuts, cupcakes and other delectable treats that no sane human would consume in such a short amount of time.

Faced with the droolworthy spread of temptations on display at the SF Vegan Bakesale, what else could I do? I suppose moderation and discipline might be fleeting thoughts for someone with just a hint of willpower, but in these circumstances they weren’t anywhere near my radar. I even sneaked a few nibbles of the peanut butter oatmeal cookie before paying for my haul. But before laying down the cash, there were decisions to be made. A man can only buy so many items before one of two things happen: Diabetic coma from simply being around so much sugar, or applying for GMAC financing to pay for all of the goods. Yes, decisions must be made.

So I skipped the Oreo and Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes in favor of s’mores cupcakes and a couple of minis from Sugar Beat Sweets. Yes to brownies, no to coconut chocolate peanut butter cups. Apple fritter from Pepples? Hmmmm…I wasn’t wild about their donuts, but this looked good. So did the pumpkin whoopee pies. Oh, and those white chocolate chip and macadamia cookies? Maybe I can buy the entire plate? OK, how about just two of them. Whoa!!! Did somebody just arrive with chili cheese corn doggies??? Woof!

Then it really began. It started with just a taste of this one and then a taste of that one. “Hey, did we finish that cookie already? What about the brownie? This one’s good, and this one is even better. Can I take a bath in the cupcake frosting?”

After bouncing off the walls from the sugar rush, then came the coma. “A fine time to try the chili cheese corn doggies, it is…wow, that’s good, and it doesn’t even have any sugar.” But after washing that down with a cupcake, the cupcake was washed down with the whoopee pie…things were really getting hazy. I haven’t been the same since then, but I feel my blood sugar returning to normal and will probably have to eat nothing but kale for the next week so I can detox.

Would I do it again? Without hesitation. The bakesale organizers, bakers and eaters raised $3,033 for Wildcare and Virunga National Park, so knowing that my sugar consumption helped the animals makes it all worth it.

Of course there were a few baked goods that stood above the others: The white chocolate chip macadamia cookies were soft, chewy and had just the right mix of white chocolate and nuts. Chili cheese corn doggies were delicious, and not just because they were something savory in the midst of all of the sweets. The flavor was spot on and they were perfectly baked with a little bit of tofu dog and chili in every bite.

I seem to remember the Pepples apple fritter going down pretty well despite an unusual aftertaste. (Keep in mind I was spoiled recently by Ronald’s apple fritters.) The mini cupcakes from Sugar Beat Sweets went down nicely too, although maybe a little to fast. Next time I’ll go for the full size cupcakes.

And maybe next time I’ll attempt to practice some form of restraint. But seriously, who am I kidding? If there’s any place not to practice restraint, that place would be a vegan bakesale.

For info on the next SF Vegan Bakesale check them out on Twitter. They’re looking for bakers and others who don’t mind eating themselves into a sugar coma of their own.

They don’t call it sin city for nothing. Any vices, desires or cravings you might have (including those that you didn’t know you have), any pleasure you seek, this is where you will find fulfillment. Even those of us who like our guilty pleasures animal free and cruelty free can find nirvana here.

Of all guilty pleasures, few are guiltier than donuts. Just look at Homer Simpson’s waistline for proof. But there are times when waistline considerations must be moved aside, and a visit to Ronald’s Donuts is one of those times.

If you just happened to drive by Ronald’s Donuts, you’d never know that what awaits you inside are some of the most decadent and delicious vegan pastries west of the Rockies. There’s nothing visible outside or even inside to distinguish Ronald’s from your typical neighborhood donut shop. But ask the folks behind the counter which items are vegan and you’ll be directed to all but about ten percent of the pastries in the case.

Ronald’s has almost all of the typical donut shop staples, and yes, they’re vegan. Glazed donuts, cream filled donuts, raspberry turnovers, apple turnovers, apple burritos, apple fritters, bear claws, maple sticks, donut holes, and much more. You won’t find an Old Dirty Bastard here, and not to worry, you won’t miss it. Ronald’s is not about edgy or unconventional. The only thing unconventional about Ronald’s is that most of the items are vegan.

Oh, and did I mention that almost everything is vegan? I would even venture a guess that most customers at Ronald’s don’t even know it. These donuts taste just like the donuts I used to eat as a kid: Light, fluffy and sugary sweet. If I had to pick a favorite it would be the chocolate covered cream filled or the glazed donuts. Or maybe the apple fritter that tastes like the perfect donut crossed with apple pie. Or possibly the donut holes—those round, airy, bite sized pieces of sugary delight. You probably get the picture…way too many to pick just one favorite.

But there’s no need to pick a favorite. Just have the friendly owners put one, or five, of each variety into a pink box and watch how quickly they disappear. Vegan food doesn’t get much more sinful than this, but compared to the other sins that can be committed in Vegas, eating Ronald’s Donuts might almost make you a saint.

Ronald’s Donuts
4600 Spring Mountain Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89102

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It’s been an amazing year for vegan cheese lovers. Daiya has raised the bar for vegan cheese that melts and their cheese has been appearing in pizzerias all over the country. Vegetarian food companies from Amy’s to Tofurkey are also introducing vegan products made with Daiya cheese. So now that we’ve achieved melt nirvana, what about cheese that doesn’t melt? I’m talking about the kind of cheese that can be sliced, set on top of a cracker and munched on from the left hand while sipping a glass of wine from the right hand.

Until recently there hasn’t been much to choose from in this department. Fortunately, Heather Mills wants to change that. After purchasing the UK based Redwood Wholefood Company last year, Ms. Mills rebranded their Cheezly line of vegan cheese under the VBites label and added several new melting and non-melting varieties to their lineup. I recently sampled three of the new cheeses and my only disappointment is that I couldn’t try all of them.

Of the varieties I was able to get my hands on, Pepper Jack, Smoked Cheddar and Soy Free, the hands down favorite was the Pepper Jack. Interestingly enough, although the Pepper Jack is one of the melting varieties, I found it to be far superior when eaten straight out of the package. While the taste was excellent, the consistency was disappointing when melted. Eaten un-melted however, the consistency was creamy while the flavor was sharp with a good kick courtesy of the green chilies. A vegan cheese like no other, this is the kind of cheese that could be served to dairy cheese eaters and they would have no clue that there was not a trace of dairy to be found.

Those same dairy eaters would probably be happy with the Smoked Cheddar as well. The flavor was distinctly cheddar with just the right amount of smokiness. The other non-melting variety, Soy Free Cheezly, also impressed. Softer and milder than the Smoked Cheddar, it still packed a cheesy flavor that is sure to satisfy those who are allergic to soy.

Hopefully, by the time you read this, VBites Cheezly will be available in the US. If you’ve been postponing your wine and cheese party because you couldn’t find vegan cheese that makes the cut, your wait is over thanks to VBites.

VBites Cheezly
vbitesusa.com

VBites Cheezly Pepper Jack

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VBites Cheezly Smoked Cheddar

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VBites Cheezly Soy Free

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Americans spent obscene amounts of money on chocolate last week, all in the name of romance. It’s a shame in some ways. I believe that any time of year is appropriate to spend obscene amounts of money on chocolate. Maybe I should rephrase that: Any time of year is appropriate to consume obscene amounts of chocolate.

Some of the romantics shelling out said money were vegans, or non-vegans buying chocolate for vegans. There’s no shortage of vegan chocolate in well stocked natural food stores and online vegan retailers, but the quality can vary from sinfully rich to downright nasty. I recently had the opportunity to sample some raw, vegan chocolates that mostly fell closer the latter category.

My first foray into the world of raw chocolate was a jar of UliMana Dark Cacao Truffles. I’ve consumed my share of vegan truffles over the years and can say without hesitation that calling these dense brown orbs truffles is a stretch. I’m used to truffles that are smooth and creamy with a rich cocoa flavor; the kind that melt in our mouth as soon as you bite into them. The UliMana truffles did not melt in my mouth and are about as smooth and creamy as a block of tempeh. Come to think of it, it’s actually easier to chew tempeh. No, I’m not kidding.

At least they didn’t taste like tempeh. Yes, there’s a mild cocoa flavor, but barely enough. Usually when I eat a good truffle, I want another (and maybe even a few more after that). UliMana makes it easy to stop at one.

Chocolatl Raw Chocolate Maca Sauce was a little more to my liking and I found that when I wanted just a taste of something sweet, a small spoonful did the trick. My biggest problem with the Chocolatl Sauce was that the predominant flavor was agave. This probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise given that agave is the sweetener, but unlike sugar, which has a neutral flavor, agave has a distinct flavor that overshadows the chocolate flavor.

Because this is a raw product, using sugar is not an option, but maybe a more neutral flavored sweetener would be a better fit for this sauce. Despite the overwhelming agave flavor and consistency that was more like a paste, I did enjoy the Chocolatl Sauce.

I wish I could say the same for Sacred Chocolate, the company that makes raw, heart shaped chocolates in a variety of flavors. I sampled several of the varieties, but couldn’t bring myself to trying all of them. I started with the White Passion, which didn’t even taste remotely like chocolate. The dominant flavor was lemon with vanilla undertones. (Great, now I’m sounding like a wine snob.) And this was not a pleasing lemon or vanilla flavor. As I ate it, I just kept thinking how strange this tasted and how I yearned for real chocolate.

I figured maybe I should go with something a little more conventional, so I unwrapped the 69% Whole Bean heart. I did detect some chocolate flavor, but it was barely noticeable. The Jungle Peanut tasted neither like peanuts or chocolate and the “Mylk” chocolate was similarly tasteless. However, nothing prepared me for the Amazonian: a mix of nuts and herbs and chocolate that tasted like a bar of wheatgrass. This was so foul I couldn’t bring myself to sample anymore of the Sacred Chocolate hearts. A man has to draw the line somewhere.

If the Sacred Chocolate bars are literally difficult to swallow, the price of these bars, and of all of these raw products may be even more difficult to swallow. At ten dollars for a 2 ounce bar, or heart, we’re talking eighty dollars per pound! I don’t know if I’d pay that much for the best chocolate, so paying that for this chocolate…let’s just say I’d have to be smoking something that costs even more.

True, organic and Fair Trade chocolate does cost more than conventionally grown “sweatshop” chocolate, but other brands of organic fair trade chocolate are available for less than half the price of these. The reason for the extra markup on these raw products remains a mystery to me. Maybe there’s something in the process that’s more labor intensive than cooked chocolate, or maybe the other ingredients are more expensive, but it’s difficult to justify dropping that kind of money on something that tastes so vile.

Maybe it’s not possible to get deep chocolate flavor from raw chocolate? I had the opportunity to dine at the famed Roxanne’s restaurant years ago and had a fantastic chocolate dessert. I also found out that the chocolate in the dessert wasn’t raw. Apparently, even the premier (or at least the most famous) raw chef in the United States felt that she needed heat to make great chocolate.

My other issue with these chocolates is the attempt to market them as health foods. Yes, chocolate has antioxidants and other beneficial properties, but one look at the calorie and fat content of these chocolates confirms that although they might be raw, they’re still junk food. Definitely not as junky as a corn syrup sweetened Jokerz bar, but if I’m eating junk food, I want it to taste like junk food.

Based on the cost, taste and dubious marketing claims of these products, I feel like I’m getting a raw deal.

Ulimana Dark Cacao Truffles
ulimana.com

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Chocolatl Raw Chocolate Maca Sauce
chocolatl.org

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Sacred Chocolate (various flavors)
sacredchocolate.com

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It’s amazing how quickly plans can change. After posting round 1 of the Vegan Cheese Challenge, a comment was left by Martin Alcock, who just happens to be the US Importer of Cheezly, informing me that the Cheezly cheddar I was using is not one of their melting varieties. That would certainly explain why I wasn’t able to get a great melt with it.

As fate would have it, I had already completed round 2 using Daiya and Cheezly to make a big batch of nachos. After finding out that the Cheezly cheddar is not a melting variety, it seems unfair to put it in a competition where melt is a big factor. So instead of the nachos promised for round 2, I put Daiya Italian Shreds and Cheezly Mozzarella Style to the test last weekend in a head to head (or pie to pie) pizza battle.

The test was simple: Same dough, same sauce and two different cheeses. Right now, my pizza dough of choice and the dough I used for this battle is the now famous no-knead pizza dough from Jim Lahey. The sauce is this easy, foolproof yet tasty recipe from Food Network. You know about the cheeses by now, so let’s get down to business.

I topped two smallish pizzas, one with Cheezly, the other with Daiya. After about 14 minutes in a 450 degree oven, the crusts were baked and the cheese was melted. When I pulled them out of the oven, both pizzas gave me cause for concern: The Cheezly had an unappetizing looking pool of oil on top and the Daiya had melted into a large blob that resembled a big melted marshmallow.

Despite the unappetizing appearances, my co-judge and I cut up and devoured both pies. The Cheezly Mozzarella had a good melt and a flavor that was very close to dairy mozzarella. The oil on top, while not attractive, didn’t have an effect on the taste or add any unwanted greasiness. When it came time for a second slice, the situation had changed. The Cheezly was hardening and no longer had the same gooey softness as the first slice. In less than 10 minutes out of the oven, the Cheezly Mozzarella had hardened. This could be a result of the oil separation, but not being a scientist, I can’t say for sure. It was still edible, but the difference from the first slice just a few minutes earlier was striking.

The first thing I noticed after cutting the Daiya topped pie was the strings of melted cheese that hung from edges of the slice. Similar strings came off the slice when biting into it, and it was at that first bite I had the sensation of being in a pizzeria somewhere on the East coast, eating a slice fresh from the oven. I thought the Cheezly Mozzarella was pretty convincing, but the Daiya Italian Shreds raised the bar. The flavor of the Daiya was much stronger than the Cheezly, and to my palate, closer to dairy Mozzarella. As for the texture, not only was it stretchy and gooey, it mostly maintained said stretchiness and gooiness 10 minutes after leaving the oven. Maybe not as soft as the first slice, but still pleasingly pliable.

So which cheese makes the cut? Surprisingly enough, both do. If I were the only judge in this test, Daiya would be the clear winner. I found the bold taste and creamy texture more to my liking than the Cheezly. If I were making pizza tonight and both Daiya Italian Shreds and Cheezly Mozzarella were in my refrigerator, I’d reach for the Daiya. However, I was not the only judge, and my co-judge preferred the milder taste of the Cheezly. She seemed not to mind that the cheese had hardened considerably as she finished off her second slice of the Cheezly pizza.

If I were grocery shopping and the only vegan mozzarella in stock was Cheezly, I wouldn’t hesitate to pick it up. That’s more than I can say for some other brands of vegan Mozzarella. But when there’s a choice, I’m going with the Daiya.

It’s been nearly four months since I posted my initial impressions of Daiya cheese, and in that time, Daiya has shown up in more restaurants, retailers as well as in packaged foods. It even won the VegNews Product of the Year Award. Add to that the recent arrival of cheddar style Daiya here in the bay area, I figured it was time to put Daiya to the test.

Before Daiya appeared, the only vegan cheese I found consistently satisfying was Cheezly. I’ve used Follow Your Heart, Teese, VeganRella, Dr Cow and some others that were so bad just the thought of them makes me cringe. (Actually, Teese is pretty cringe inducing, but for some reason, lots of people like the stuff.) I feel pretty comfortable saying that it’s either Cheezly or Daiya or no cheese, thank you.

So which cheese reigns supreme? I decided it was time to find out. By putting both Daiya and Cheezly cheddars through a couple of decidedly un-scientific and non-comprehensive tests I hoped I could find out which was truly the king of vegan cheeses.

The first test was a simple grilled cheese: Bread, cheese and a little oil spray for the pan. Yes, true grilled cheese connoisseurs would have my head for not using Earth Balance, but for this test I wanted something a little more flavor neutral. The bread of choice was Alvarado St Organic Sprouted Barley Bread disguised as Trader Joe’s Organic Sprouted Barley Bread. In order to make the test more even, I finely grated the Cheezly to a consistency close to the Daiya Shreds which are only available grated. (Hmmmm…maybe that’s why they call it Shreds.)

It didn’t take long to discover that making a grilled cheese with grated cheese is slightly more challenging than with sliced cheese. Flip the sandwich and the cheese falls out. Not an issue with slices.

First up was the Daiya grilled cheese. When I cut it in half, it was hard not to notice the wonderfully oozy melted consistency, and the first bite re-confirmed that Daiya has raised the bar when it comes to vegan cheese texture. The flavor was definitely on the mild side of cheddar. This is as close as I’ve come to a grilled cheese from my long gone dairy eating days.

In sharp contrast to the Daiya grilled cheese, there was no oozing of melted cheese when I cut the Cheezly sandwich. The best way to describe the texture of the Cheezly was somewhere between softened and melted. Although the Cheezly lacked the gooey melt of the Daiya, it was soft enough that it felt like I was eating melted cheese. What was immediately striking, was the sharp flavor. The flavor of Cheezly was much more pronounced and truly tasted like a sharp cheddar. I count this as a good thing, although others, especially those who grew up on Velveeta or Kraft Singles, may prefer the milder taste of Daiya.

If you’re hoping for a clear winner here, you’ll need to conduct your own test. Daiya clearly outshines Cheezly when it comes to texture, but 2 out of 2 judges preferred the flavor of Cheezly. It’s possible that lower heat and longer cooking time may have produced a better melt on the Cheezly, but that’s a test for another day. Either way, both Daiya and Cheezly will make a great sandwich.

Coming soon in round 2: Nachos! Pizza!

Discovering a tasty new vegan food is always fun, and for me, finding foods that are “accidentally” vegan is even better. Every issue of VegNews is packed with new products that proudly flaunt their vegan credentials, but there are even more foods that fly under the radar because despite being vegan, they’re not marketed as such. Hot sauce is one of those products that in most cases is vegan, but rarely gets a mention in vegan publications and blogs. Maybe it’s because it’s so often associated with barbeque (read meat), or perhaps it’s the whole macho thing where hot sauce makers continuously one up each other to see whose sauce can burn a hole in your intestines faster, hot sauce just doesn’t get it’s due in vegan circles. If I have my way, this will change.

I stumbled upon Boulder Hot Sauce while at a Mexican restaurant in a small town in Colorado. Along with the usual selection of Tabasco, Tapatio and Cholula, there was a small bottle of Boulder Hot Sauce Smokey Serrano. Never one to shy away from something new (well at least not in this case), I poured a little dash on my beans and I was hooked instantly. This wasn’t just heat, it was tasty, smokey heat. A standard side of beans was brought to a whole new level of deliciousness. I immediately wanted to add it to everything else, even dessert. OK, there was no dessert. This was a small town in Colorado, no vegan desserts here. But you get the idea.

Fortunately, I picked up some Boulder Hot Sauce at Whole Foods in Boulder (where else?) before heading back to San Francisco and have been looking for excuses to use it at any opportunity. Yesterday’s chili recipe which already packed a pretty good kick, benefited from a few shakes as did anything with Mexican, Southwestern or Latin flavors.

There are a lot of hot sauces that will enhance a dish with heat. Boulder Hot Sauce not only adds the kick, but also a depth of flavor that I haven’t found in other hot sauces. Granted, I’m no hot sauce expert and I’m sure there are others that are as tasty as they are hot. Hopefully, in time they will increase their distribution and we’ll be able to find some Smokey Serrano in stores outside of Colorado. Until then, it can be ordered on their website.

While other hot sauce makers continue their arms race of how many Scoville Units they can pack into a bottle with names like Assblaster, Rectal Rocket Fuel, Jersey Death and Magma, it’s comforting to know that companies like Boulder Hot Sauce continue to make a product that satisfies the taste buds while making you sweat.

Boulder hot Sauce Company
Boulderhotsauce.com

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