Basic Cashew Cheeze

Carmella · #1 05-13-2008, 12:32 PM

I had a brief stint with fermented seed and nut cheeses early on my journey, using mostly sunflower seeds and almonds. Neither Don or I were really impressed at the time, so I quickly forgot about it.

Recently, my interest was rekindled when someone posted Chad Sarno's Cashew Cheese Au Poivre. I was still a little hesitant, remembering my failed experiments, but curiosity got the better of me (especially after reading how yummy it was!) I decided to take the plunge and give raw nut cheese another chance. Don't know what I was doing wrong before, or perhaps it was just a matter of what type of nuts/seeds I used, but this Cashew Cheese was a whole different story. Boy oh boy, is it ever delicious! And the texture is so like the 'real' thing!

Basic Cashew Cheeze

3 cups cashews, soaked 12-14 hours
3 capsules probiotics
2/3 cup fresh rejuvelac (see instructions below)

In high speed blender, blend the soaked cashews with probiotics and rejuvelac until smooth.

Line a sieve with a double thickness of cheesecloth and place over a bowl. Transfer the mixture to the sieve, drape the cheesecloth over the top, cover with a towel and leave in a warm place to ripen for 14-16 hours.Season according to one of the following recipes (or come up with your own variation!)

Alternatively, shape the mixture into a round, place in a covered container, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, or until it firms up.

Store in fridge in airtight container for up to 3 or 4 days.

Here's the cheeze mixture freshly out of the Vitamix...

... cozily wrapped up in cheesecloth.

Then after some 16 hours of culturing.

Carmella's Notes:
~ You could sub the probiotics with some miso; the idea is to give the culture a kick start.

~ If you don't have rejuvelac, fresh water would also work.

~ It is key to use as little liquid as possible for best results in terms of texture.

~ You may want to adjust the culturing time, depending on how 'strong' you like your cheeze.

Once you have your basic Cashew Cheeze, you then get to come up with whatever flavors you want: chive, sun dried olives and fresh basil, rosemary and thyme, or jalapeño pepper. Mmmmmmm... So many variations to play with! For my part, I opted for the following...

Cashew Cheese Au Poivre
Garlic Paprika Cheeze
Herb Cheeze

Enjoy!

Eva · #2 05-18-2008, 10:42 AM

Hey Carmella -- I am moving soon and would like to try this but with macadamia nuts since I have a ton of them. What are your thoughts on the nut sub?

Carmella · #3 05-18-2008, 02:13 PM

Oh Eva!!! Getting ready for your major move, eh? I hope you'll still have access to internet and will be able to keep us posted...

I'd say go for it girl! Cashews and macs give such a similar consistency to recipes; I sub them all the time. In fact, I think I even recall a nut cheese made with macs but I can't remember where now.

Let us know how it works!

Eva · #4 05-18-2008, 05:27 PM

Yay!!! Thanks for the help! I'm totally going to make this -- going to use it for the paprika recipe. And with my new camera (yay!!), I can snap a few photos!

The one thing is I don't have probiotics -- so I have my cart saved online to get a batch mixed with stuff like agave since I'm almost out of some staples (gotta bring "starter" batches with me!). Buuuuut, I'm going to check tomorrow to see if I can get some locally and start on this right away!

And yeah, I will definitely have the internet from Hungary. The landlady is setting that up for me since I work from home!

Anyways... none of that is about this cheese! LOL!

Thanks again Carmi!

Eva · #5 05-20-2008, 12:41 PM

Sooooo, I'm making this (it's been fermenting for about 18 hours), but it seems it's still too moist. Any harm in putting this in the dehydrator (that's a warm place

) for a couple hours??

Eva · #6 05-20-2008, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eva

Sooooo, I'm making this (it's been fermenting for about 18 hours), but it seems it's still too moist. Any harm in putting this in the dehydrator (that's a warm place

) for a couple hours??

Weeeeell I'm doin' it! And it seems to be doing great things in the dehydrator!!!

Carmella · #7 05-20-2008, 09:58 PM

Eva,
I put mine in the D too as our place was kinda cool.

Eva · #8 05-22-2008, 07:45 AM

Well it worked out GREAT!!!

I totally enjoyed it! I'm soaking more macadamia nuts right now to make more by tomorrow.

Carmella · #9 05-22-2008, 10:29 PM

Oh yay! How did you flavor the cheese, Eva?

Eva · #10 05-23-2008, 05:16 AM

Weeeeeell, I actually didn't until it was ON something. So I had one snack with some crackers and cheeze, with a touch of herbamare and paprika.

I had another with cucumbers, then the cheeze, then nutritional yeast, then herbamare (just a touch), paprika, then a black olive right in the middle of the cucumber slices.

Mmmm, that was divine.

I had two full plates of the second thing for different meals. Next thing I knew, I was out of the mac cheeze!

malilies · #11 07-24-2008, 06:31 AM

I started making my cheese on Monday night and I had it for lunch yesterday. It was so good

I made the herb one (with basil and thyme). I have been eating it with crackers. I am just so amazed at how good it turned out. Ill definitely be making it again. Thanks for the recipe Carmella. Here is a picture of the sandwich I made with the cheese, alfalfa sprouts and tomatoes.

Carmella · #12 07-27-2008, 08:22 PM

So glad your cheeze turned out well, malilies!

I keep wanting to make more but get side-tracked. Hum, come to think of it, I even got the frozen rejuvelac out to see if it's still 'alive' but forgot all about it!

Oh-oh... Must still be in the fridge somewhere; I'm almost scared to look!

STB · #13 09-01-2008, 02:32 PM

Carmella, I finally made this recipe a few minutes ago. It came out of the vitamix light brown, looking more like almond butter than cashews. Not the soupy store brands, the thick homemade kind. Anyhow I was thinking maybe it was that color because I used so little water (do not have rejuvalac). The other option was the brand of probiotic I used. Anyhow, the cheese is now packed in a bowl and sitting on top of my D.

Sure enough when I added a cup of water to the vitamix to clean it the milk was a nice frothy white color. Just had to add a squeze of lime and a squirt of agave. Sooooo good.

Have you ever had the cheese do that? The pic above is a nice creamy white.

STB · #14 09-01-2008, 05:42 PM

Should I add more water a spoonfull at the time until it turns white? I'd hate to lose the cashews for not doing it right. It may be that the bacteria need a certain amount of moisture to make the cheese. It is very stiff at the moment.

Eva · #15 09-01-2008, 05:53 PM

I eyeball a lot of these recipes, and they all seem to come out fine. I don't think I followed the proportions of this one exactly (and used water rather than bother with the rejuvalac), but it did come out really good.

If your base is smooth for the most part, I'd say go ahead and add the probiotics capsules and pop it in the D at 100 or so, or just leave it out if you are in a warm place.

I have noticed, by the way, that sometimes the cashews in the store are darker than other times. I don't know why that would be, but perhaps it's related. I made this with macs rather than cashews, so I don't have experience with that but would not be too worried if it happened to me.

I hope that helps!