What if you could make vegan cheese simply from cashews? It’s easier than you think. This vegan cashew cheese fermented with a jalapeno hot pepper brine is out of this world.
Enjoy sliced on fresh crusty bread and wow your friends at dinner parties with this delicious plant-based cashew cheese.
Originally, this was a recipe perfected by Miyoko Schinner who wrote Artisan Vegan Cheese that we’ve adapted to our liking.
You can enjoy it three different ways as it ages and becomes more solid over time. It starts off as a cashew cheese dip or sauce. Let it age a little longer and it gets a little hard on the outside and soft on the inside like a vegan brie cheese. Give it more time and you can slice it and put it on bread and even longer as a kind of vegan Parmesan.
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I brought this to a family gathering, set it out on a wood platter with a knife, and surprisingly it took the place of a traditional gourmet cheese very well being served on bread or crackers. The kids weren’t so sure about it but most people who tried it found it very good with that deep cheesy flavor.
Vegan Fermented Cashew Cheese Recipe
Makes 1 small log, wheel, or several cheese balls
Enjoy this for the cheesy flavor it has or add artisan ingredients to make a vegan cashew cheese that you can take to the next level. Feel free to ferment this with any starter you like as they all have different flavor profiles. As with artisan vegan cheese, slice on crusty bread or serve with crackers. If you want to be fancy, roll in herbs or cracked pepper.
Equipment:
Blender
Small bowl
Ingredients:
2 cups cashews, soaked 30 minutes
1/4 cup fermented starter culture (we love the brine from our jalapeno hot peppers but you can use sauerkraut brine etc.)
1 tsp. sea salt
1 T. nutritional yeast
1 tsp. lemon juice
Soak cashews for 30 minutes to soften. This makes the cashews softer so when you blend them, it’s creamier.
Blend soaked cashews, your fermented starter culture, and salt to a paste. Spoon into your bowl.
Cover bowl and let sit at room temperature for 1-2 days depending on how tangy you like it. Smell and taste to check the flavor. It’s possible the top of your cashew cheese will develop a crust and get a little harder. Once you get the flavor you like, move on to the next step.
Stir in nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and any other fancy ingredients you might want like peppers, olives, or any other artisan ingredient.
Want a fermented dip with great flavor? You’re done!
Want cheese that you can slice? Spoon your mixture onto a large square of wax paper and form somewhat of a long log. Fold over the edges and twist off the ends to close it up to form it into a log shape. You might need to squeeze here and there and then twist the ends to compact the log.
Store in the refrigerator 1-2 weeks so that it begins to set and get harder. After 1 week, the center will be soft like brie but won’t be ready to slice yet. After 2 weeks it gets a little more solid and easier to slice depending on the amount of moisture in your mixture. Let it age longer and it’s more of a hard vegan Parmesan cheese.
Herbs or spices that might change the flavor of your cashew cheese could include Italian herbs like oregano, basil, or thyme. You could also try dill, parsley, chives, rosemary, paprika, cumin, cracked black pepper, or spicy crushed red pepper depending on the flavor you’re trying to achieve.
Want up your game and make a artisan vegan cashew cheese? Consider adding some of the following ingredients to mix in before aging:
- lacto-fermented hot peppers as a pepper jack cashew cheese
- chopped sun-dried tomatoes
- minced garlic
- olives
- miso paste
- chopped onions
- chopped nuts like walnuts
- chopped dried fruit like apricots or cherries
- citrus rinds
- cacao nibs
Other interesting ideas to change the flavor or mouthfeel of this vegan cashew could be:
- liquid smoke for a smoky cheese
- roll the cheese log or cheese balls in herbs, cracked pepper, or sliced nuts like almonds or seeds
- fermenting the cheese with a different culture like sauerkraut juice or another brine
- apple cider vinegar
- Dijon mustard
- carrots for color
- turmeric for color
- coconut oil for a different mouthfeel
- trying changing the cashew cheese base to almonds or another nut or seed
Fermented Cashew Cheese
There’s so many different ways to make and enjoy this fermented cashew cheese. Try the original way first and mix up your recipe any way you like. The options are virtually endless! Enjoy on bread or any other way you love cheese.
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