Colorado Craft Cashew Cheese

Vegan cheese. It’s a thing. And nowadays vegan cheeses are infinitely better than the weird old fake cheeses that looked unsettlingly like melted Saran Wrap once cooked (and probably tasted like it too). Plant-based cheeses are enjoying a renaissance because folks who are making faux cheeses are increasingly adopting traditional approaches to cheese making, rather than the “Better Living Through Chemistry” approach that used to be the norm whereby the soy or almond cheeses were made with a bunch of weird processed elements that were shipped from a factory somewhere off the Jersey Turnpike. But now, a much better crop un-cheeses are available that follow traditional cheese making approaches like fermenting and aging the cheeses, smoking them, integrating herbs, or washing the rind. This is one such recipe, where you’ll undertake a brief fermentation period to give your cashew cheese just a slight hint of sourness that a really delightful Buratta might have with the consistency of ricotta. It is perfect for stuffed shells, manicotti, or use in a lasagna.

You’ll also need to sprout some grains to get things started. This is a super simple process but does require two specialty items: a mason jar and a sprouting lid. You can get both for a couple dollars at a local kitchen store or online. The sprouting lid will also come with instructions (or you can find them online), so I’ll omit them here.

Prep time: a few days

½ cup brown rice – you cannot use white, as it doesn’t sprout
4 cups raw, unsated, and unseasoned cashews
2 tsp salt
Juice from 2 lemons
Something to kickstart fermentation – this can be a tablespoon of sauerkraut juice (if the kraut is sold refrigerated and not processed and sold at room temp), a couple tablespoons of unflavored yogurt (vegan is fine), or the contents of one acidophilus capsule

  

Sprout the rice. This takes a few days. You don’t want it to develop into fully-formed sprouts. Instead, you want to sprout them to the point where all the grains have basically just started to grow “tails.”

Once sprouted, pour 2 ½ cups of water over the rice, so it is submerged an let it stand for 24 hours at room temperature. The rice water will be undergoing a fermentation and will actually smell slightly cheesy by the end and be a tad bubbly.

When your rice water is 8-16 hours away from completing its 24-hour fermentation soak, put the cashews in a very large mixing bowl with a few quarts of water to soak. The cashews will expand quite a bit, so use a bigger bowl and more water than you think you might need.

After the cashews have soaked for their 8-16 hours and the rice has fermented for 24 hours, you’ll want to keep the 2 1/2 cups of rice WATER, but not the rice. You can discard the rice. Also, drain the cashews but discard their water. Transfer rice water and cashews to a food processor or blender (you might have to work in batches). Blend, using as much additional water as needed to get the right consistency – you want something halfway between pancake batter and creamy peanut butter. Keep that food processor running a long time--the smoother the texture, the better. I let my processor run for 5-10 minutes.

Transfer your cashew blend to a large mixing bowl and add your sauerkraut juice, yogurt, or probiotic capsule. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let ferment for 24 more hours at room temperature.

Now, add salt and squeeze in lemon juice. Stir well.

Viola! You now have incredible, home-fermented vegan cheese for anything from cannelloni to cannoli (for cannoli, you’ll obviously still need to sweeten your cheese).