I’m sure I left you on the edge of your seats yesterday (see Vegan Meltable Mozzarella Part I) as you awaited the conclusion of my meltable vegan cheese experiment (haha!).

Soooo….after waiting about twenty-two hours for the vegan cheese base to get “tangy,” I was ready for the next step, which is to cook and thicken the mixture (as outlined in Part I):

To thicken the mixture, you use tapioca starch, kappa carrageenan, and xanthan gum….

…which you whisk into the mixture over medium heat:

And then stir like hell until it’s all smooth and shiny and unified:

I’m glad I watched the video from Part I because you can actually see the moment when the mixture gets all shiny.

I don’t have an ice cream scoop, so I just scooped the mixture in two big wooden-spoonfuls into the brine (8 cups ice water with a tsp. of salt mixed in):

Now, it cools pretty quickly, and though in this picture, it looks like the brain my Psych prof office-mate used to store  in a corner of our shared office (in an ice-cream bucket full of formaldehyde!), the result really has the texture of mozzarella:

I did a practice run of melting it on a cracker and the texture was PERFECT!! It melts MUCH better than the Daiya. Now, the result is not hard enough to grate; the texture is more like a raw mozzarella in texture (a bit like Bocconcini), so I’ll likely end up tearing it into shreds to top a pizza.

And here it is topping crostini with Yves’ Vegan Ham–notice how it melts and browns! It really is the most perfect vegan cheese I’ve ever tasted!!!

Next, I’m going to try Miyoko Schinner’s meltable cheddar!

And this evening, I’m going to use my meltable vegan mozzarella to create the world’s healthiest vegan pizza!