Miyoko’s Creamery Debuts World’s First Vegan Cottage Cheese (2024)

Miyoko’s Creamery, a vegan brand, debuted the world’s first vegan cottage cheese in March 2022. The Cultured Plant Milk Cottage Cheese, made from organic watermelon seed milk and sunflower seed milk, has the same mild flavor and creamy, curdled texture as classic dairy-based cottage cheese. Miyoko’s vegan cottage cheese has a comparable amount of protein, with 10 grams of plant-based protein per half cup serving.

Miyoko’s innovation team tried a range of cultures and formulas throughout research and development before settling on the best one. The scientists also looked at how different plants and proteins affect cheesemaking, and discovered that watermelon seeds are abundant in globulin, a protein that aids in coagulation.

“The idea for cottage cheese originated in my home kitchen when I was playing around with various plant milks and discovered a way to form curds that resembled cottage cheese… I handed the project over to our innovation team, which developed the processes to create a consistent quality curd system, as well as best overall flavor, testing a variety of cultures and otherwise fine-tuning the formula through many iterations,” founder Miyoko Schinner stated.

Miyoko’s Breaks the Stereotype

Miyoko’s introduced another first in the vegan cheese sector last year: liquid mozzarella. Miyoko’s first-of-its-kind pourable vegan mozzarella was made with cultured cashew milk to give a product that melts flawlessly over pizza. Miyoko’s eliminated the particulates and other elements that hamper meltability, rather than making a standard solid block of vegan cheese that has to be shredded over pizza.

“My goal was to create a vegan cheese worthy of pizza… A vegan pizza cheese that is so good that pizza lovers cannot believe it is vegan and inspires people to change their cheese to change the world,” Schinner previously stated.

The pourable vegan mozzarella is one of the first products to benefit from the company’s recent $52 million series C fundraising round. Miyoko’s has been extending its research and development activities as a result of the investment, including working on a nut-free and allergen-friendly version of their liquid vegan pizza mozzarella that utilizes watermelon seed milk instead of cashews. The updated version is now only accessible in the food service industry.

Transforming Vegan Cheese and Butter

Schinner launched Miyoko’s Creamery in 2014 with the goal of creating an animal-free dairy food chain in the future. Miyoko’s Creamery has transformed the cheese and butter categories by blending old-world creamery traditions with modern, creative technology, proving how plant dairy is, in fact, dairy. More than 25 plant-based cheeses and butters are available at roughly 20,000 locations throughout the US, including Whole Foods, Target, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, and larger grocery chains.

Miyoko’s is presently working on huge, aged vegan cheese wheels for cut and wrap operations, similar to those found in delis and cheese stores, in order to further disrupt the traditional dairy sector. 13-month-old parmesan and eight-month-old smoked provolone are the first of these aged, deli-style cheeses.

“[They’re] not solidified oil and starch, but truly cultured cashew milk cheese that gained its texture and flavor with long aging… We’re doing similar things with nut-free milks as well, and seeing some exciting results. Unfortunately, because these products have to age, we won’t be able to share them with the public for at least a year—but good things are worth waiting for,” Schinner said.

Source: “HOW MIYOKO’S CREAMERY MADE THE WORLD’S FIRST DAIRY-FREE COTTAGE CHEESE FROM WATERMELON SEEDS” by VegNews

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