Raw recipe for dairy-free cheese – Brazil nut cheese

By Stanka Vukelić

Raw recipe for dairy-free cheese – Brazil nut cheese

This is a recipe for a dairy-free nut cheese made with your own probiotics!

I love raw nut or seed cheeses. They offer a great, healthy alternative to dairy cheeses. The base is made from soaked cashews and Brazil nut, which gives it that perfect texture. You can use other nuts instead, just be aware that there will be a difference in flavor.

To create the “cheesy” taste, I use lemon juice, nutritional yeast and rejuvelac. The rejuvelac aids in the fermenting process and increases the health benefits greatly.

For making the cheese, you will first need to make the rejuvelac, which will act as the probiotic during the process of fermentation. Please note that you need to add a couple of days for the preparation of the rejuvelac. The grain needs to be sprouted first, to make the water turn into rejuvelac (video recipe is below).

Instead of rejuvelac you can use probiotics powder and water. It is probably the easiest, but not the cheapest way to make the “cheese”. Most recipes require at least one teaspoon (this one has 2 teaspoons), but the cheeses are just as good, and the probiotics don’t require advanced preparation. So again, if you want the out-of -the-box version – buy probiotics – if you want to make your own probiotics – make your own rejuvelac!

Raw recipe: dairy-free cheese

Preparation time: 15-20 min.

Soaking: overnight, or 8-12 hours

Fermentation: 12-24 hours

Dehydration: 12-24 hours

Ingredients for one cheese:

7 oz (200g) of cashew nuts soaked overnight

7 oz (200g) of Brazil nuts soaked overnight

2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast

1/2 fresh-squeezed lemon

pinch of sea salt

1 cup of rejuvelac – below is a video recipe for rejuvelac + health benefits

Methods/steps –

1. Put the cashews and Brazil nuts separately into two jars and cover with fresh water. Soak it overnight. After that, wash well a few times.

2. Put all ingredients into a blender or food processor.

3. Process until well combined and creamy.

4. Place a strainer inside of a bowl and line the strainer with cheesecloth, allowing the edges to drape over the edge of the bowl. Pour the cheese into the cheesecloth. Wrap the cheesecloth around everything.

5. Place a weight on top of the cheesecloth ball. It should not be too heavy that it pushes the cheese through the cloth, but heavy enough to gently start to press the liquid out. I use a mason jar filled with water. Cover everything with a towel.

6. Leave to ferment for 12-24 hours at room temperature.

7. Shape it into any cheese shape and put it in the dehydrator (to form a “rind”). Dehydrate at 115ºF (46ºC) for 12-24 hours.

8. It is ready to serve.

9. Store in refrigerator in a sealed container. Stays good for up to 14 days.

Options:

Instead 1 cup of rejuvelac, use 2 teaspoons of probiotic powder and 1 cup of water.

If you don’t have a dehydrator, make a soft version of cheese without dehydration. You can skip fermentation too. I usually prefer these cheeses for spreads. Tastes great too. Other ideas for nut spreads:

Raw sesame seeds dip/spread

Raw basil-nut dip or spread

Rejuvelac Recipe – The Fermented Super Drink / How to make rejuvelac

Growing sprouts

Here is a video showing you how to make a raw vegan cheese step by step –

Raw Vegan Almond Cheese

This post is shared at “Hearth & Soul Hop”

This post is shared at “Mostly Homemade Mondays’ Linky Party/Blog Hop”

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