The selection of vegan cheeses available is expanding, but is still limited to a few overpriced mozzarella and cheddar varieties, which always upset my stomach. The September/October Cheese Issue of VegNews inspired me to search for cultured nut cheese recipes and I found a couple from Miyoko Schinner's Artisan Vegan Cheese cookbook. My first attempt was a cashew brie cheese, which was very well received. I brought it to a friend's home movie night and we spread the brie on warm-from-the-oven bread and paired it with some guava butter I made a couple weeks ago and with the lavender peach preserves I made that day. The vegans and non-vegans both loved it. In fact, Gen bought some real cheese for movie night and no one touched it, but my cheese was gone by the end of the night!Some problems I had:
- I couldn't find unsweetened almond yogurt in stores, so I bought amande plain cultured almondmilk, which is sweetened with fruit juice concentrate. It actually isn't very sweet at all, but it got me looking up recipes for home-made yogurt, which I'm now making.
- I misread the recipe and thought it called for unrefined coconut oil, which I had on hand, so my cheese tasted a bit like coconut.
- I could only find agar agar flakes, and my attempt to pulverize them in my blender wasn't very successful. I'm pretty sure my measurements were off and I didn't allow the agar agar to fully dissolve because I was running late for work.
- I started the cheese Thursday night, so it would be ready by Sunday night, but this wasn't enough time for the outside to fully dry and create a shell.
Aged Cashew Brie
Yield: 6 inch round block
1 cup raw cashews
1 cup filtered water
1/2 cup plain unsweetened almond yogurt
1/2 cup refined coconut oil
1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons tapioca flour
1 teaspoon agar agar powder or 3 teaspoons agar agar flakes
Soak cashews in water overnight. Drain, combine cashews, water, yogurt, coconut oil, nutritional yeast, and 1 teaspoon salt in blender and process until smooth.
Transfer mixture to a large bowl, cover, and allow to sit at room temperature for 24 to 36 hours, occasionally tasting to check the flavor.
Pour mixture into a medium saucepan and whisk in tapioca flour and agar agar powder. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently. Cook until mixture thickens and pulls away from the side of the pan, about 5 minutes.
Line a 6-inch mold (I used a couple of ramekins and a round Pyrex container) with cheesecloth and pour in hot cheese mixture. Spread mixture evenly and smooth out top, let cool in refrigerator for 4 hours or until firm.
Remove from mold and remove cheesecloth. Wet hands, sprinkle them with 1/4 teaspoon salt, rub wet salt all over cheese. Place cheese on a wire rack in fridge for 24 hours. Flip cheese over and let rest another 12 hours until it appears dry. Wrap in wax paper and store in fridge for up to 2 weeks or freeze.
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