This cheese is soft and almost tofu-like but can be shredded on the large holes of a box grater with minimal crumbling. It’s available only in blocks. A pleasant, overall mild, milky flavor and a "lovely touch of salt" earned it the winning spot — raw and cooked — on our list. On the downside, it barely melted, contrary to the package claim that it "melts, slices and shreds," nor did it brown.

Kite Hill’s ricotta isn’t as light and fluffy as dairy ricotta, but the creamy texture, bright, lemony flavor and slight tang from tartaric acid, which occurs naturally in grapes, made this our overall favorite. Dolloped on top of a casserole before baking, it dried out just slightly but maintained its flavor and should do just fine baked in a casserole or lasagna. It’s also delightful smeared on toast and plopped on scrambled eggs.

VioLife handicaps itself by insisting that these coconut oil and modified starch-based slices are just like their dairy counterparts. They’re not. But: they are bright orange and bendable in a classic singles kind of way. Cooked, they immediately evoked grade-school grilled cheese sandwiches: oozy, mild, with a very slight tang, somewhere between American and mild cheddar. If it were up to us, we’d call them "Just Like Chamerican." If you really concentrate, you’ll notice a bit of an oily coating in your mouth, but it’s slight. We say: go retro, griddle a few slices of cheese and tomato between store-bought white bread and serve with the bread-and-butter pickles. Or do the classic grilled cheese with tomato soup for a vegan flashback to your elementary school cafeteria.

Treeline’s four cashew-based, naturally cultured Spreadable Soft French-Style cheeses took the prize. Less processed and with fewer ingredients than many other supermarket brands, these are great for the folks who love Boursin-type cheese. All four flavors nailed the creamy, spreadable texture of Boursin, with a slight chalkiness reminiscent of goat cheese, and just a bit of cashew flavor in the background. Our favorite? Spicy but-not-too Chipotle Serrano, with "pleasant" Herb-Garlic weighing in at a close second. Creamy Scallion reminded us of sour cream and onion dip, but with a strong tang that turned off some tasters. Least favorite? Sea Salt and Pepper, as the mild seasoning highlights the fact that the cheese itself is not super-flavorful. Bonus: We microwaved some of the Herb and Garlic and thinned it with water to make a light, smooth pasta sauce. Try that with Chipotle Serrano for a dairy-free queso, or topping for nachos or charred veggie tacos. Vegan cooking can be time-consuming, especially if you are just making the switch from meat-based meals, so these sauces are great shortcuts for vegan meals. Think of it as something like Hamburger Helper for the vegan set.

Dairy double-cream cheeses have a high butterfat content, which makes them reliably creamy. Our tasters said this traditionally cultured cashew-milk cheese did a pretty good job there, but with a touch of grittiness and a density closer to traditional chive cream cheese than a double cream. One taster noted a "hit of tang sharper than that in a standard cream cheese, and much more than in a traditional double cream like Brie." But overall, the tasters agreed it could make its way to a vegan cheeseboard.

Barncat from Conscious Culture, a Pennsylvania small-batch producer of cashew-based, cave-aged cheeses is available online and in retail locations across the country. A subtle, vegetable-ash veined cheese along the lines of a Cambozola, it ate "like the real thing," though it was just slightly tougher. With an edible rind, it stayed creamy and even oozy as it warmed up.

The Uncreamery’s Brie is rated "visually stunning, a soft little pyramid of bloomy, ash-ripened cheese that looks like it came straight from the cave." Miso adds a ton of umami; one taster noted that it tastes the way artificial butter tastes on popcorn — like cheese-flavored cheese, which is not a bad thing. The rind has a slightly bitter finish that builds with each bite, but this Brie was still a big favorite for our tasters.

Cheezehounds’ stonecarver-turned-vegan-cheesemaker Lori Robin makes her cheese in small town in the Catskills, and her cashew-milk (and hemp, soy and agar) Mulshenock, a flavor-mix of Gouda, Cheddar and smoke, scored at the top for taste. But its slightly rubbery texture cost it some points, and while that’s a critique that can apply to smoked dairy cheese, too, our tasters concluded it was just "a little too tofu-like." We recommend microwaving it briefly so it’s nice and melty before smearing on crackers.

This cashew- and almond-based vegan cheese from Misha’s has a lovely hint of smokeyness and savoriness, thanks to shallots, red bell pepper, smoked paprika and chipotle. There’s even a touch of turmeric to give it the quintessential orange cheddar color. The nuts add a creamy, spreadable texture, perfect for a cheese board with crackers, smeared on a burger, or even added to baked dishes like macaroni and cheese. It’s sold in eight-ounce containers, making it easy to pop off the lid and serve!

Maybe it’s harder to make firm vegan cheeses. We didn’t find a lot that we loved, and we we await the ultimate crystally vegan cheese, one that cracks into shards under the tip of your Parmesan knife. That said, we chose REBEL’s Gruyere, with its mix of rice flour, almonds and miso, plus some powdered spices that give it depth without announcing themselves too loudly, in part because it was visually pretty close to a younger dairy gruyere. Ditto on the texture and flavor — like all less-aged airy cheese, it falls on the softer, creamier side of firm — sliceable, not spreadable, and with a slightly nutty flavor and a bit of tang. For slicing and piling on crackers, perhaps with a slice of apple, a dab of chutney or some mustard, this is our pick. Try ordering it for delivery from Riverdel — the Austin, Texas company doesn’t sell widely.