Aussie Scientists Finally Nail the Plant-Based Dairy-Free Cheese Stretch

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It’s taken years of plant-based flops, fridge disasters, and rubbery regrets, but at last, science has served up plant-based dairy-free cheese wheels that grill, melt, stretche and brown. Cue applause from every lactose-intolerant millennial who still remembers the trauma of early cashew 'cheddar'.

A team of engineers at UNSW Sydney has developed a plant-based cheese wheel that doesn’t just look the part, it performs. According to lead food engineer Cordelia Selomulya, the breakthrough lies in nailing the structure. Not the flavour. Not the ethics. But the stretch.

Source: PFN Ai Archives - Depiction of plant-based cheddar wheels as created by UNSW

And that’s no small feat. Many vegan cheeses melt like regret and taste like almond-scented glue. Cordelia Selomulya, has been working on plant-based food texture since 2019, seems to have done what hundreds of start-ups promised and never quite delivered and that is to turn nut goop into something acting like dairy on a hotplate.

This cheese isn’t being churned out by a unicorn start-up in California or an oat lobbyist in Stockholm, it’s coming out of a lab in Sydney, funded by science, not sales decks. And while there’s no retail partner named yet, it’s safe to assume Alt-Dairy is already sniffing around.

The real genius? Texture engineering. This isn’t your typical coconut oil and starch blend that collapses under heat. The UNSW version apparently holds its own in a toastie, stretches under the grill, and even browns.

Meanwhile, legacy cheese brands are nervously watching. The EU is still fighting over what “cheese” even means, while Aussie scientists just changed the game without needing a cow, a courtroom, or a clunky “cheeze” label.

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Source: PFN Ai Archives - Stretchy Cheese

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