I used to enjoy eating cheese once a while but I wasn’t a cheese lover before I became vegan. Occasionally, I bought vegan cheeseout of curiosity butI didn’t have craving for cheese and certainly wasn’t interested in going through the effort to make my own vegan cheese. How it started was I couldn’t find any store-bought vegan cheese I like and ended up making my own out of frustration. I tried different kinds of vegan cheese from stores (including rather expensive ones) but I just didn’t care for the oily processed taste of the store-bought vegan cheese. I wanted to make vegan cheese without using oil.
I found a couple of cultured vegan cheese recipes on Youtube and adopted the one from Connie’sRAWsome Kitchen to make my own. She doesn’t have the exact same recipe but I followed her instructions.
The result was amazing! It looks like real cheese. It actually doesn’t taste like dairy cheese but it tastes like fermented good cheese made of non-dairy ingredients.
The recipe is easy but takes time. The process of making takes about 5 days and the process of aging takes at least 6 weeks! This doesn’t include additional 10 days to make rejuvelac! To make this cheese, you’ll need rejuvelac. I posted the recipe (instructions?) last week.
So if you want to eat delicious vegan cheese, you’ll need to plan way way ahead. I am constantly making rejuvelac and vegan cheese so I always have cheese ready to eat and in aging.
Let’s begin making delicious cheese!
- Soak cashews for at least one day
2. Drain water and rinse cashews
The cashew on the left is after being soaked for a day. The cashew on the right is before being soaked. You can see how it expanded and sprouted.
2. Blend cashews, rejuvelac, tapioca flour and salt. Start with 1/4 cup of rejuvelac and add more if needed. Do not put too much rejuvelac. Add just enough to blend with a tamper.
3. Pour cashew mix into a bowl and loosely cover it with a plastic wrap. Leave it at room temperate for 12 to 24 hours. Check after 12 hours to see if it tastes tangy/sour (like yogurt).
You want it to be as smooth as possible.
Don’t cover it tightly at this point.
4. When it taste tangy/sour, cover the bowl tightly and set aside in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours. It needs to be cool to be molded easily.
5. Cut parchment paper big enough to hold a disc of cheese. Also cut a long strip of parchment paper for the side of the disc and a piece of string to tie cheese.
I reuse parchment paper to make cheese so it looks wrinkly. 🙂
This strip and a piece of string are for the side of the disc.
6. Put a generous amount of tapioca flour on parchment paper.
7. Put a generous amount of tapioca flour on waxed paper. This paper need to be big enough provide the surface to mold cheese. You can do this on a cutting board but I like waxed paper for easy clean-up afterwards.
8. Divide cheese mixture into three (or two if you prefer large discs) and put one portion on a plastic wrap
9. Mold cheese in a plastic wrap
10.Transfer cheese mixture on waxed paper and mold a disc. Dust cheese with a generous amount of tapioca flour.
11. Gently place cheese mixture on parchment paper
12. Wrap the side of the disc with a strip of parchment paper. Use a small amount of cheese mixture as glue to stick the paper together. Tie a string around it. Cover cheese with a thick layer of tapioca flour.
13. Place cheese with parchment paper on a dehydrator rack and dehydrate it at 95 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 to 24 hours. If cheese is soft, I keep it longer in the dehydrator.
14. Take out cheese from the dehydrator and wait until it completely cools down
15. Transfer cheese with parchment paper into a paper box lined with paper towel
16. Place the box in the refrigerator with the lid slightly open and age cheese for 6 to 8 weeks
During the aging process, change paper towel and flip cheese every couple of days.
17. When it’s ready to eat, dust off tapioca flour with a brush.
As it ages, cheese gets harder. I like soft one (aftertwo weeks of aging) but also like the medium soft one(after six weeks of aging) withtronger fermented flavor.
I know it takes a long time to make this cheese but I hope you give a try because it’s soooo good!
3.0 from 1 reviews
Cultured Vegan Cheese
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Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Serves: 3
Ingredients
- 2 cups unsoaked raw cashews
- Water
- ¼ to ⅓ cup rejuvelac
- 4 tablespoon tapioca flour and more to coat cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Soak cashews for at least one day
- Drain water and rinse cashews
- Blend cashews, rejuvelac, tapioca flour and salt. Start with ¼ cup of rejuvelac and add more if needed. Do not put too much rejuvelac. Add just enough to blend with a tamper.
- Pour cashew mix into a bowl and loosely cover it with a plastic wrap. Leave it at room temperate for 12 to 24 hours. Check after 12 hours to see if it tastes tangy/sour (like yogurt).
- When it taste tangy/sour, cover the bowl tightly and set aside in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours. It needs to be cool to be molded easily.
- Cut parchment paper big enough to hold a disc of cheese. Also cut a long strip of parchment paper for the side of the disc and a piece of string to tie cheese
- Put tapioca flour on parchment paper.
- Put tapioca flour on waxed paper. This paper need to be big enough provide the surface to mold cheese. You can do this on a cutting board but I like waxed paper for easy clean-up afterwards.
- Divide cheese mixture into three (or two if you prefer large discs) and put one portion on a plastic wrap
- Mold cheese in a plastic wrap
- Put cheese mixture on waxed paper and mold a disc. Dust cheese with a generous amount of tapioca flour.
- Gently place cheese mixture on parchment paper
- Wrap the side of the disc with a strip of parchment paper. Use a small amount of cheese mixture as glue to stick the paper together. Tie a string around it. Cover cheese with a thick layer of tapioca flour.
- Place cheese with parchment paper on a dehydrator rack and dehydrate it at 95 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 to 24 hours. If cheese is soft, I keep it longer in the dehydrator.
- Take out cheese from the dehydrator and wait until it completely cools down
- Transfer cheese with parchment paper into a paper box lined with paper towel
- Place the box in the refrigerator with the lid slightly open and age cheese for 6 to 8 weeks
- During the aging process, change paper towel and flip cheese every couple of days.
