New York residents and visitors can enjoy the sight of ginormous vegan cheese products on a Times Square billboard, thanks to the Korean company Armored Fresh. The faux cheese makers have boldly entered the U.S. vegan foods market, reserving their billboard space for two years and making a splash at the 2023 Consumers Electronics Show with their newest product: American slices.
Partnering with grocery giant Kroger helped the Korean food tech company explode into the American market. Kroger owns many grocery companies, including QFC, Ralph’s, Fred Meyer stores in Oregon and King Sooper in Colorado.
Related: Vegan cheese hitting dairy aisles at Whole Foods in New York
Armored Fresh’s mission is, “We are protecting people and the environment with one tasty bite at a time. Armored Fresh’s innovative approach prioritizes consumers’ well-being plus environmental footprint.”
Thank you!
Keep an eye out for our weekly newsletter.
Join Our Newsletter
Receive the latest in global news and designs building a better future.
The company also aims to protect the earth, citing dairy farms and dairy products as a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Armored Fresh sent us some samples so we could try their cheeses ourselves in the Inhabitat test kitchen.
The technology
Armored Fresh mimics the cheese-making process of cow milk cheese, but instead starts with almond milk. The basic process is to ferment the almond milk, then cook, sterilize, package and cool it. But the hitch in the process is that unlike cow milk, plant-based milk lacks lactose, making it a challenge to grow lactic acid bacteria. Armored Fresh has patented technology to help proliferate plant-based lactic acid bacteria for a more cheese-like finished product.
The company describes its four-step process as first extracting protein and fat during the grinding and juicing process of cultured plant-based milk, then adding a special extract and glucose to help grow plant-based lactic acid bacteria. Next, they make a refined composition optimized for culturing plant-based lactic acid bacteria. Then it’s fermented. The company’s patents include “method for manufacturing vegetable almond cheese pre-compound,” “method for making vegetable cheese using almonds” and “method for manufacturing vegetable lactic acid bacteria fermented almond milk.”
If you’re not a food scientist, that may all go over your head. But the result is individually wrapped bright orange slices that look just like American cheese.
Nutritional value
I like the fatty properties of vegan cheeses in general, as they make dishes like rice and beans more satisfying. And what’s macaroni or a grilled cheese sandwich without the cheese? But I hardly ever buy it. Every time I pick up a package of vegan cheese in a grocery store and read the label, I think, do I really need to eat this overly processed, non-nutritive food?
Unfortunately, Armored Fresh does only slightly better in that department. The main ingredient is fermented almond beverage, rather than coconut oil, like so many vegan cheeses. But coconut oil is the second ingredient, followed by modified food starch and other things that don’t sound especially appetizing.
Compared to cow-based American cheese, it’s lower in calories and fat, and lacks cholesterol. A slice of Armored Fresh American cheese contains 60 calories, 5% of the recommended daily total fat and 15% of recommended saturated fat. Compare that to cow-based American cheese at 104 calories per slice, 13% of total fat and 25% of saturated fat. However, for that extra 44 calories, you also get 10% of your recommended protein and 29% of your calcium. An Armored Fresh slice contains only one gram, or 2%, of your recommended protein.
Taste testing Armored Fresh
My experiments with Armored Fresh focused mainly on its American slices, which got me wondering about the concept of American cheese in general. What is it, really, and why did somebody invent these shiny orange squares? A little Googling turned up that James Kraft invented American cheese in 1903. The processed cheese boosted product consistency and safety.
However, the slices don’t meet the legal definition of cheese. The FDA gives it the not-so-appetizing description of “pasteurized processed American cheese food.” For the FDA to grant coveted cheese status, a product must be more than 50% pressed curds of milk. As Chef Sean Brock told Food & Wine in 2017, “I choose American cheese because it isn’t really a cheese — it’s more of a sauce when it melts, so you end up with a burger covered in delicious cheese sauce.”
Since my sophisticated household frequently makes nachos as a main course, this sounded perfect. However, my experiments got me wondering about Armored Fresh’s name. It sounds like car wax and, as it turns out, isn’t much easier to melt. Despite the brand’s hype about meltability, the slices retained their distinctive square shape long after the chips were burnt. I even tried taking them out of the oven and microwaving them and could still see the corners of the square cheese. My control group — a pan of nachos with shredded cow-based cheese — had no trouble melting before the chips burned.
I also tried Armored Fresh’s American slices on a Trader Joe’s masala burger. Granted, these aren’t the most durable veggie patties. But by the time I’d microwaved it long enough for the cheese to melt, the patty had crumbled. It tasted fine. I’m not saying it’s a bad product, I just get tired of vegan cheeses hyping meltability and then not coming through.
Try it yourself
Armored Fresh didn’t behave that well for me in my home kitchen. But lots of folks are embracing the company’s American slices, so you should try it for yourself. Slutty Vegan is using American slices on its burgers. And you can buy it in many Kroger stores, or online from the Armored Fresh website (which is worth checking out for its psychedelic vibe).
Images via Armored Fresh
Editor’s Note: This product review is not sponsored by Armored Fresh. All opinions on the products and company are the author’s own.
