Vegan cheese made from home-grown vegetable oils is healthier, greener and more “oozy”, scientists have found.

The cheese substitute is typically made from a combination of starch and solid fats like coconut or palm oil.

The fats give it the “sliceable, meltable” texture people expect from cheese – but also mean vegan cheese often ends up with a high saturated fat content.

Now a team at Heriot-Watt University (HWU) has developed a way of making vegan cheese slices from vegetable oils like rapeseed and sunflower, rather than the coconut and palm oil.

The work is as part of efforts to make the product healthier and more sustainable.