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Quick Cultured Vegan Herb Cream Cheese

Take your leftovers from making plant-based milk and turn it into a quick-cultured herb cream cheese using sauerkraut juice! The natural, earthy flavour of cultured hemp hearts goes perfectly with fresh dill and chives, brightened by lemon and made extra smooth with a bit of coconut yogurt.

Video Tutorial for Vegan Chive & Dill Hemp Heart Cheese

 
Ingredients for Quick Cultured Vegan Cream Cheese

While I love to use rejuvelac and slowly culture cashew and almond cream to make cultured vegan cheeses, this Quick Culture method is…well, quicker. And I love me an overnight recipe! For this method, you will need:

  • 3 tablespoons of pulp leftover from making seed-based milk (I used hemp pulp leftover from one batch of hemp milk)
  • 1 tablespoon liquid from raw, unpasteurized sauerkraut
  • 1 teaspoon organic miso paste
  • 3 tablespoons plain, unsweetened vegan yogurt (or an amount equal to the amount of pulp used)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh chives, minced
  • 1 tablespoon fresh dill, minced
  • 1 small lemon wedge
  • 1 small clove garlic, minced
  • salt to taste

This takes a relatively short time compared to other cultured cheeses as we cheat a little by using the juice from unpasterized sauerkraut and organic miso for our main probiotic ingredients. 

vegan-herb-cheese-on-french-bread

How to Make Quick Cultured Vegan Herb Cream Cheese

First, combine your leftover hemp hearts pulp (or pulp from cashew milk, almond milk, etc) with a tablespoon of sauerkaut juice and a teaspoon of natural organic miso paste. Mix very well, then cover it and leave at room temperature to ferment. After a day or two (depends on your room temperature), you’ll be able to taste the difference.

After a day or when the flavour develops some tang and is quite strong tasting, add the rest of the ingredients. You can use the herbs and aromatics I included in the recipe or you can change it up to what you have or what you like. This is your vegan cream cheese and there are no rules!

Printable Recipe for Chive & Dill Hemp Cheese

Yield: 1/2 cup vegan herb cream cheese

Quick Cultured Vegan Herb Cream Cheese

vegan mozzarella and dill on bread slice

An herbaceous dill cultured cream cheese. The natural, earthy flavour of cultured hemp hearts goes perfectly with fresh dill and chives, brightened by lemon and made extra smooth with a bit of coconut yogurt.

While relatively quick as far as naturally cultured vegan cheese goes, you'll need to let the first step ferment for 24 hours at minimum. It might take 48 hours depending on your ambient temperature. Then the rest of the recipe only requires a few minutes.

Prep Time 2 days
Total Time 2 days

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons hemp milk pulp (or other seed-milk pulp)
  • 1 tablespoon liquid from raw, unpasteurized sauerkraut
  • 1 teaspoon organic miso paste
  • 3 tablespoons plain, unsweetened vegan yogurt (or an amount equal to the amount of hemp solids used)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh chives, minced
  • 1 tablespoon fresh dill, minced
  • 1 small lemon wedge
  • 1 small clove garlic, minced
  • salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Combine your hemp milk pulp with a tablespoon of liquid from raw, unpasteurized sauerkraut and a teaspoon of natural, organic miso paste and mix it really well.
  2. Cover it and leave it at room temperature to ferment for a day or two. How long depends on your taste/time constraints. You can taste it every so often to check on the flavour development.
  3. When it's fairly tangy and kind of strong tasting, add 3 tablespoons of plain, unsweetened cultured vegan yogurt. I used the So Delicious coconut one.
  4. Add the rest of the ingredients, adjusting for your taste. And that's it! You can chill it in the fridge to firm it up a bit or get to eating right away.

Did you make this recipe?

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Showing 4 comments
  • VeganistaMama
    Reply

    This looks and sounds incredible! I will be picking up some hemp hearts and sauerkraut Monday when we go grocery shopping! Thanks for sharing all of your amazing recipes with us!

    • Mary
      Reply

      Yay! Exciting!

  • Sarah
    Reply

    I love hemp! I’m just so scared to let stuff sit out and curdle. I’m afraid I’ll do something wrong and it will go rancid. Am I crazy?

    • Mary
      Reply

      Not crazy, BUT you should remember that fermented, cultured foods have been around for ages. It’s literally one of the skills that helped humans live through harsh winters and lean times. Just stick to the instructions and make sure all your equipment is clean and sterile before you start. You can sterilize your equipment by using disinfectant liquids OR heat. 🙂 Good luck! And I hope you give it a try.

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