Kite Hill's "soft-ripened" cheese made from almonds develops a bitter rind like that on Brie cheese. Alastair Bland for NPR hide caption

Kite Hill's "soft-ripened" cheese made from almonds develops a bitter rind like that on Brie cheese.

On the fringes of the cheese world, a quest for non-dairy cheese that tastes like the real thing has been underway for years.

Products made mostly of soy protein or coagulated palm oil, often heavily processed and artificially flavored, have dominated the (very) narrow vegan cheese section of the supermarket. But these products have long underwhelmed the palate with their thin flavor and reluctance to melt on a hot pizza.

Now, as lactose intolerance and environmental and animal welfare concerns about livestock production drive more interest in alternatives to animal products, a new generation of non-dairy cheese makers is doing something novel: They're actually making cheese.

OK, so they're not using milk from mammals. But by culturing the milk or puree from tree nuts with the same bacteria used by dairy cheese makers, and letting it mature, companies like Kite Hill, Treeline Cheese and Punk Rawk Labs have turned the scramble for a decent-tasting vegan cheese replacement into something crafty. And pretty tasty.

At Kite Hill, the cheese-making starts with grinding the nuts with water and then separating out the solids to make almond milk.

"And at that point forward, it's almost exactly the same process as dairy cheese-making," says Kite Hill's CEO Matthew Sade, whose line includes a crusted Brie-like cheese and a smooth chevre-like cheese. Sade cultures the almond milk with Lactobacillus acidophilus, bacteria that has assisted cheese and yogurt makers for ages by turning the sugar in the milk into lactic acid. It's part of the key to giving good cheese its tang.

Once cultured, the milk forms curds, which settle into a molded shape. At this stage, the cheese can be aged for several days or weeks. Kite Hill's "soft-ripened" cheese actually develops a bitter rind very much like that on a piece of Brie. The soft interior is creamy, with a tart cheesy bite and a distinct essence of almond. Kite Hill's fresh cheese is tart, cool and smooth, like mild goat cheese.

Heidi Ho's Ne Chevre live culture cashew cheese. Alastair Bland for NPR hide caption

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Hold The Mammal: Daring To Make Dairy-Free Cheese From Nuts