Spero Sunflower Cream Cheese

 

I was recently sent some sunflower cream cheese by Spero Foods, which is “on a mission to change the way people think about cheese and dairy alternatives.” They make several different flavors of the cream cheese, and since it’s made with sunflower seeds as the first ingredient, it’s quite nutritious in addition to being environmentally friendly! It's also vegan as well as free of major allergens.

While they have dozens of mouthwatering recipes online using their cream cheeses, I opted to taste them plain, meaning spread on various crackers or toast, to get a better idea of how they taste. Let me start by saying that they have the consistency of whipped cream cheese, which makes them very easy to spread, and I very much enjoyed that. 

First, the Original, or plain, flavor: this is the only one where I could taste the sunflower seeds. It was actually quite pleasant! I enjoyed this on crackers. 

Then I tasted the Strawberry cream cheese at breakfast, and it was really good! It’s not normally a flavor I go for, but this one was pleasant. 

The Goat cheese was surprisingly tangy, in the best possible way. Even though it’s not the same as goat cheese, it really does push all the same buttons. I didn’t know what to expect from this one, but I was impressed. 

The Salmon cream cheese is to salmon what pumpkin spice is to pumpkin; I tasted the paprika more so than salmon. That being said, the Engineer liked it, and the Little Prince asked for seconds, even though he doesn’t normally like cream cheese (and does like salmon). I also used some to make “bread sushi” for a school lunch, and the Fox ate most of it, which is a win! 

The Smoked flavor is really what it set out to be. It’s smokey in the same way that artificial bacon is smokey. It contains liquid smoke, and chipotle peppers (without being spicy). What’s not to like? 

The Cheddar was a little too “smokey” for me, what with the paprika and all. It was fine, though it didn’t really remind me of cheddar. I wonder if it’s because there’s already a lot of variation in cheddar and I tend to go for the sharper stuff? 

Finally, the Herb: this was great! It’s got garlic and onion powder as well as herbs, and I love it! 

In conclusion, I’m definitely going to seek these out in stores, both to eat as a spread and to try some of those recipes! It looks like my local Whole Foods stores don’t carry it, but Central Market does.