I saw this one in the Shop Rite a while ago, and was intrigued. Especially since it wasn't in a refrigerated area, as are nearly all cheeses. So of course I bought a couple of varieties, and took them on home and had at them. For the record, I tried the gouda and pepper jack kinds, which both came from the Nutradried Food Company, LLC, out of Washington state.
Moon cheese is simply dehydrated cheese. The company website is a little snippy about the name, saying it's obviously because of the shape. Which wasn't obvious to me, since the pieces are only vaguely roundish, and not perfectly round, or perfectly sickle-shaped. They do have holes resembling craters in them, though--I'll give them that. The folks who made the product are big on touting its healthiness, especially as it compares to other snack foods. They compare their moon cheese to beef jerky, mixed nuts, and green pea snack crisps, for example. For all of these the moon cheese has more protein, less carbs, and less sugar (it has none), as well as less ingredients (only the cheese, which technically has multiple ingredients, but you get the idea). Calorie-wise, however (and presumably fat content-wise), moon cheese has more than its competitors, sometimes dramatically so. The company also boasts that their take on cheese is gluten-free, and vegetarian-appropriate (but not vegan-appropriate, clearly). It's also okay for those on the keto diet (a high fat, low carb diet similar to Atkins), and doesn't come from milk from cows that were given the rBST growth hormone. The website also has published compliments from periodicals such as Buzzfeed, People, and Shape, and a false hotline with prerecorded snippets. All told there's five different kinds of the cheese, with the others being cheddar, cheddar bacon, and garlic parmesan.
Nutradried is fairly recent, and moon cheese itself was launched in 2013. Their CEO is Mike Pytlinski. However, Nutradried is the child of a Canadian company called EnWave, This company, started in 1996, is focused on the REV technology, or an enhancing Radiant Energy Vacuum. REV is a proprietary invention, and is trademarked. It's used to dehydrate the moon cheese. Others things that the REV is used on include blueberries and nutraceuticals (which I just learned are "pharmaceutical alternatives which claim physiological benefits," such as dietary supplements). A subtype of the REV functions as a uniform dryer, perfect for drying and decontaminating cannabis products. Perhaps if/when cannabis becomes more fully legal in the U.S. EnWave will jump in on that market, too.
Nutradried Moon Cheese, Gouda flavor: These were roundish blobs, with an average diameter of 1.5 cm. (about .75 inches), and a yellowish-white color. They were dry and crunchy, obviously, since all water had been removed. I still could discern the gouda flavor. This cheese was very good, a more than decent snack-sized treat.
Nutradried Moon Cheese, pepper jack flavor: Pieces of this kind were the same approximate size, shape, texture, and color as the previous sort. The peppery spice heat sneaked up a bit, but not so much that is was unpleasant. Once again, this snack was very good. The unique texture almost reminded me of a potato chip/crisp.
I should mention that Nutradried has re-launched their moon cheeses, adding two flavors recently, and changing the names of the originals. Most of these were made into cutesy titles--gouda was changed to "Oh My Gouda," for example. And one of the new ones is called "Cheddar Bacon Me Crazy." All five flavors should now be available, as January 2020 was the official release date. Whatever you call them, I definitely recommend Moon Cheese, unless you really hate cheese. It's a cool innovation on an awesome food, made to be non-perishable. I'll definitely look to buy these again, and to try the other flavors.
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