I used to enjoy eating cheese once a while but I wasn’t a cheese lover before I became vegan. Occasionally, I bought vegan cheese out of curiosity but I 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’s RAWsome 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 (after two weeks of aging) but also like the medium soft one (after six weeks of aging) with tronger 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!
- 2 cups unsoaked raw cashews
- Water
- ¼ to ⅓ cup rejuvelac
- 4 tablespoon tapioca flour and more to coat cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 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.
maria says
hi
is it ok to eat tapioca raw?
thank you
admin says
I am not sure but tapioca flour is processed so I don’t think it would be a problem.
Caterina says
Hi! Reeeeeaaaallllyyyyy interesting!!!
I usually make water kefir, is it possible to use it instead of Rejuvelac?
Thanks 🙂
admin says
Hi Caterina,
I’m sorry for my late response. I think water kefir works although I haven’t tried it. It just needs some culture to start fermentation. If you use water kefir, please let me know how it goes!
Thank you,
Susan says
Hi there,
I made my cheese with sunflower seeds and some sauerkraut but put it straight into the fridge without letting it ferment first.
Is it now too late to ferment it?
And when should I add the herbs etc.?
Sorry it is my first time and just trying it from what I had in the house!
Thanks,
Susan
admin says
Hi Susan,
I apologize for my delayed reply. I would let it ferment at the room temperature first before putting it into the fridge. Even after you put your cheese into the fridge, you can still take it out to ferment it. I would add herbs when you are ready to mold your cheese (after the initial fermentation) or when you are making the mixture (before the initial fermentation). I hope this helps.
Thank you!
Sakra jen says
HI. It seems that you don’t realy get “mold”. if you like to get the taste of real molded cheese you have to mix the tapioca with Penicilium bacteria. but for that you need a special fridge with 12C (the optimum temp. to grow the bacteria.