Inspiration of the cheesy variety.
I was never a big cheese fan. I liked it OK, back in the day of dairy-eating, but was never crazy for the stuff. I suppose that little factor made my transition into being a vegan relatively simple; cheese is the one thing that holds a lot of people back. I have dabbled a few times in the art of nut “cheese,” using soaked cashews or macadamias to produce a cheese-like substance. True (dairy) cheese lovers will never be fooled by a vegan substitute (or may even be totally weirded out by them = Viper) but they are quite yummy in their own right.
Recently, the lovely Sara from Fit To Blog (who I have had the pleasure of meeting in person, on my last junket to New Zealand) posted about her adventures in almond cheese making. She used probiotic capsules to culture her nut cheese (whenever I hear the term “cultured food,” I imagine a sandwich in opera glasses drinking an aged marzemio, Ha) – I am always up for adding a little “culture” to my food, and this sounded a whole lot more fun than just swallowing a tablet. You can follow Sara’s instructions here – I basically stuck to her method, with a few tweaks, naturally.
Basic Cultured Almond “Cheese”
Adapted/Inspired by the recipe/method from Fit To Blog
- 2C raw almonds (or cashews/macadamias)
- 1/2C water
- 1/4C nutritional yeast
- Powder from 2 probiotic capsules
- 1/2t sea salt
- Any flavourings you like – fresh/dried herbs/sun dried tomatoes etc.
- First you need to soak your almonds overnight or until they get a little white tip (pictured below).
- Peeling the nuts is optional, but the end result will be much prettier and smoother if you do.
3. Whizz nuts in a food processor nuts with all other ingredients (folding through things like chopped fresh herbs/sun dried tomato after blending) until very smooth.
4. Pour mixture into a bowl, and leave overnight to “culture-up.” Be aware that this stage could take longer if you are in a colder climate – it’s very warm where I live (over 30 degrees celsius most days) so if you are in a colder climate this could take anywhere from 12-36 hours. Trust your nose – as is the key with all fermenting ventures!
5. Place mixture in some cheese cloth, and squeeze out all excess liquid. (Hint – save this liquid – mix it with some tahini, whole grain mustard and apple cider vinegar and it makes a yummy, creamy salad dressing).
6.Pat into small individual “rounds” and dehydrate at 90 degrees C, flipping over once, until you achieve your ideal cheesy consistency.
After dehydrating, the “cheese” has a delicate outer crust, with a soft centre – in between a dry cottage cheese and a crumbly feta? It’s really up to you – if you dehydrated it long enough, it would become dry and crumbly – the perfect parmesan substitute!
No, it’s not CHEESE….. BUT it does contain essential bacteria for a healthy gut, plus all the goodness from almonds, and it has quite a sharp, cheesy flavour thanks to the nutritional yeast. Brilliant on salads, and I can see a vegan cheese-board with home made crackers in my very near future, that’s for sure. Frankly, the vegan cheese substitutes I have tried from the supermarket resemble AND taste like chemical-laden-plastic, so to have a straight forward, whole food recipe for one is quite exciting. Thank you, Sara!
Are you a cheese lover? If you are vegan – do you miss cheese? What’s your favourite alternative?
26 Responses to “Inspiration of the cheesy variety.”
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Vegan. Stay at home Mum of Misty. Yoga teacher in training. Passionate about REAL food - creating it, eating it, sharing it. I can never stick to a recipe.
Every time I mention making ‘cultured’ butter or something like that to my husband he says…oh, so you’re taking it to the art gallery…EVERY TIME!
Yip, that’s a DAD joke if ever I heard one
I have to say, the macadamia feta I’ve been making (obsessively, but I wish they weren’t so expensive!) is even better than the real thing. I’ve always liked cheese but could take it or leave it most of the time. I always found the feta in salads way too full-on, but mac feta is perfect, not too sharp, but sharp enough to add tang to the dish, and without the horrible feeling and aftertaste (and cruelty) of animal cheese. I’m super keen to try almond parmesan next, thanks so much for posting!
Oh yes – totally agree – macadamias are PERFECT for “cheese” making – so rich and creamy…. I used almonds here though as they are SO much cheaper
All of the flavour, none of the negatives – vegan cheese is a massive WIN for sure!
Bonnie, would love your mac fetta recipe
Check out her FB page – she posted it on here somewhere!
http://www.facebook.com/ZanaOrganics?fref=ts
I think my next one will be cashew and almond mixed. I had such a good result with my first batch, but a sad fail with my last batch (totally my fault – I let it over ferment). I’m going to try another batch tomorrow for a Friday finish. It’s certainly hot enough here now to get the job done quickly. Thanks for linking me up! X
Yeah I heard you guys were having some HOT days…. definitely makes things ferment very quickly (a batch of kombucha takes me about 3 days!) Thanks for the idea
This looks so cool! I make a macadamia “cheese” type spread in the thermy and it’s senstational – the kids beg me to make it (recipe on blog). I have also seen brazil nuts used instead of parmesan. I must give this a go. I am a huge cheese freak – but try to cut it down as much as I can.
Macadamias are SO creamy dreamy for cheeses, yummo…. I’ll check out your recipe
oh i wish i could have come back to hang out with you both! and great recipe Lou. Love almond cheese, never thought about making it myself.
hugs.
I wish you could too! Beach, wine & cheese – sounds good, no? xx
I’ve wanted to make this for years now, but my fear of fermentation has always held me back.
I can easily live without cheese and cheesy meals, but I must admit I do love a good stinky blue. But because I’ve never really cooked with cheese, but rather just snacked on blue when the craving hits every now and again, I’m quite happy with the raw vegan substitutions (and have no interest in things like daiya)
Oh no – do not fear the fermentation – it’s actually super fun (makes me feel like a scientist or something, Ha) I making a rye sourdough starter at the moment for some bread-making
I never quite understood the stinky-blue cheese – all of my friends go nuts for it, but I could never understand eating something that smells/tastes like feet. BUT I am not a cheese/creamy texture fan so I suppose that is understandable
See, whereas I don’t understand the “blue cheese smells like feet” thing, but I guess this must mean I’ve never encountered truly smelly feet.
Yes, must do – lucky you! Ew cheesy feet, that’s so wrong.
I’m with you,Lou. Never had cheese growing up except that nasty presluced Kraft singles so I never really missed it after becoming vegan. However, living in the states and being married to a yank I get the whole cheese thing. It’s in/on/stuffed into everything.
I just bought the new book “Vegan Artisan Cheese” which has recipes for making cultured cheese of every type mostly from nuts and rejuvalac. I tried out a few for the same of the hubby. They were good, tasty and all but again, I never really cared that much for cheese so they seemed like a lot of effort.
Some good stuff like cream cheese icing for carrot cakes and mascarpone, feta etc that I enjoyed. Since it’s made with whole, real, vegan food It’s better than the fake stuff at the shops that tastes like chemicals and plastic.
Any way, not sure what my point is but you recipe looks yum
E.
What I don’t get is all the “cheese” I see in movies set in America – you know the stuff that is put on nachos? It’s a crazy shade of yellow, and looks plastic? Or the stuff in a can? Crazy!
Oh that book sounds really interesting, I may just have to check that out… definitely better than the fake stuff, ick
I loooooooove cheese, especially goat and sheep cheese. I don’t eat it as often as I used to though because I only buy local (and usually raw milk) cheeses now and they are pricey. It just allows me to savor it more though and not overdue it! Thankfully Holden is a HUGE goat cheese lover too (my husband HATES it).
I’ve said it before – Holden has GREAT taste
Wow, it would be fabulous to be able to buy local (raw) cheese – you lucky thing! Goat cheese was one of my cheese exceptions – I used to really really like it – especially on pizza with caramalized onions, figs and balsamic drizzle YUM.
I love the idea of adding probiotics to this! I LOVE cheese, that was indeed the hardest transition to vegan life for me. Daiya is an amazing substitute. Consider yourself lucky that you’re not a cheese fan!
I would really love to try Daiya one day – hopefully it comes to Aussie SOON – I would love a good melty pizza cheese option
This sounds so awesome, but I usually feel intimidated to embark on cooking projects like this. I appreciate how you lay it out though—makes it seem more do-able!
I occasionally miss cheese when I’m with people who are eating pizza, or when I see a grilled cheese on TV. Mmmmm….Otherwise, I’m pretty content being cheese-less. : )
(that said, the “nut milk” cheese from my party *was* good ; ))
The whole process is actually quite fun…. but like you said it IS a “project” – not something I will do on a weekly basis, but maybe once a month – it’s surprisingly easy
I am SO content being cheese-less really, it’s never been an issue…. dairy wise YOGHURT was my last thing to give up!
I was the same way- I was never a big cheese lover. In fact as a child i hated it. As I got a little older I started to come around to it, but it was never a necessity like with some people I knew. It definitely made the vegan transition easier
I haven’t tried making vegan cheese yet for the reasons stated above, but I’m intrigued by the idea of a cheese sub with healthy bacteria
It’s really quite fun, Gabby – you should give it a whirl… even if you don’t think of it as “cheese” – it’s a yummy addition to meals