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Easy Cultured Cashew Cream Cheese

This easy cultured cashew cheese is quickly becoming a staple in my house. This rich, creamy cultured cream consists of only two ingredients but develops into varying depths of cheesy flavour. Eat it on it’s own, add it to other creams or sauces, or turn it into a solid cheese (like this creamy garlic mozzarella block cheese). It is adapted from Miyoko Schinner’s recipe from her amazing book, Vegan Artisan Cheese. In this version, only the amounts are different and I skip the salt.
Click here for the printable recipe.

Video Tutorial for Cultured Cashew Cream Cheese

 
The process is almost exactly like this Cultured Almond Cream Cheese, but it’s even easier as cashews don’t need to be de-skinned and are naturally softer and easier to blend.

This random sandwich is filled with a cream cheese and pepper salad and beefless burger.

This random sandwich is filled with a cream cheese and pepper salad and beefless burger.

Cultured cashews will develop a different flavour than cultured almonds. Actually, you an use this process for most seeds and nuts and you will get a unique flavour from each of them. You can go ahead and use this base in other cheese recipes like this Almond Gruyere, but keep in mind that the flavour will develop differently. Also, try it in this Creamy Garlic Mozzarella that you can slice and grate.

Grated Mozzarella that uses this cultured cashew cheese as a base.

Grated Mozzarella that uses this cultured cashew cheese as a base.

This cashew cheese also makes a nice substitute for sour cream. Just mix it with salt and lemon juice to taste!

rejuvelac, soaking cashews

All you need are soaked cashews, rejuvelac (homemade, store-bought, or vegan probiotic powder), and something to blend them with.

Printable Recipe for Cultured Cashew Cream Cheese

Easy Cultured Cashew Cream Cheese
This cashew cream cheese is super easy to make and only requires two ingredients: cashews and rejuvelac. You can make the rejuvelac yourself or pick it up from a health food store. Otherwise, use a vegan probiotic powder mixed with water.
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Ingredients
  1. 2 cups raw cashews
  2. 1/4 cup or more rejuvelac
Instructions
  1. Soak the cashews for at least 4 hours in fresh water. You can soak these overnight or over a few days to make them even easier to blend but change the water daily to prevent spoilage.
  2. Drain the cashews.
  3. Blend the cashews with just enough rejuvelac to blend until very smooth. You can use a regular or immersion blender.
  4. Transfer the mixture to a clean glass container and cover with a cheesecloth.
  5. Let the cashew cheese rest at room temperature for a day or two. How long depends on the temperature, how strong you would like the cheese to become, and your patience! The cheese will develop a funky, cheesy smell and a tangy, yogurt-like flavour.
  6. Store this cheese in a covered container in the fridge or use as the base in another cheese recipe.
  7. Enjoy!
Notes
  1. If your tap water is chlorinated, dechlorinate it before using it to soak the cashews. You can do this by just letting the water stand for a few hours and the chlorine will naturally dissipate.
  2. The original recipe calls for salt. However, I have made this many times with and without salt and find there is hardly any difference.
  3. Want to make your own rejuvelac? It's EASY! Click here for the tutorial
Adapted from Artisan Vegan Cheese by Miyoko Schinner
Adapted from Artisan Vegan Cheese by Miyoko Schinner
Mary's Test Kitchen https://www.marystestkitchen.com/
Showing 6 comments
  • narf77
    Reply

    Another awesome vegan cheese share. I have just started following your excellent blog via RSS Feed Reader. I wouldn’t want to miss a single post. Thank you for sharing these amazing recipes with us all and for bringing out the experimentrix in me. I can’t wait to give this a go. Vegan cheese here in Tasmania Australia is a most sad and woeful thing. Vegans are few and far between here and the locals are big meat eaters. Vegan cheese just wouldn’t sell in our local supermarkets so our only alternative is to make it ourselves. Sites like yours are a godsend to we far flung antipodean vegans. Cheers, again, for the excellent share 🙂

    • Mary
      Reply

      Thank you so much for the kind comment, dearie. Hopefully, the market for vegan foods will grow as more and more people are exposed to the lifestyle. I can sympathize with living in a meat-centric environment. The city I live in is nicknamed Cow Town for it’s huge ranching industry. However, slowly, even the hardened meat-eaters are starting to see the upsides of including plant-based meals. I would not have believed even a year ago, how vegan-friendly the supermarkets have become. There’s still a long way to go, but this shift is amazing! Perhaps, with your help, Tasmania will see a shift as well.
      I’m so happy that you find these recipes helpful. <3 Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

      Cheers,

      Mary

  • Laura
    Reply

    Hi Mary,
    I’m really thrilled with your cheese making videos, and will be giving them a go soon. In the meantime, do you by any chance know whether it would be possible to use a bit of the last batch of vegan basic cultured cheese to add to a new batch, rather than having to use rejuvelac or probiotics every time?
    Cheers,
    Laura.

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