Anyone have success making your own vegan cheese?

[OrangeMoon]

Like from cashew or coconut milk or something? This pregnancy has given me the biggest aversion to things like daiya cheese, so just wondering if there are any alternatives.

I love learning new things so making my own vegan cheese would just be so cool. Thanks!

Edited by OrangeMoon - 12/15/10 at 5:37pm

[OrangeMoon]

Or breastmilk? Oooohhh, scandalous, lol.

I'm kind of surprised no one has responded? Maybe because it's hard to do or something?

[catnip]

I've never tried making cheese-cheese, but this spread is good- http://hecookssheclicks.com/2010/02/23/vegan-crock-cheese/

There's a recipe in the Real Food Daily cookbook for a meltable, shredable cashew cheese, I've had it in their restaurant, and it's divine, but like so many of their foods, it's difficult and time consuming, and requires expensive and/or hard to find ingredients or tools, so I haven't tried it myself. (Seriously - their tempeh bacon is the BEST EVER, but it requires a range top smoker, which is not in my arsenal of kitchen tools).

[OrangeMoon]

Thank you for this response! Yeah, I've just had kind of a rough week because this pregnancy has made me such a picky eater. Like I crave really specific things (Like a sandwich with tomato, avocado, cucumbers and a slice of cheese). And I'm relatively new to the vegan thing so I am still struggling with what to do for like instead of mayo or that slice of cheese. Normally i'd do humus or something, but this pregnancy has made me hate it. It's just hard because like you said, I've done two really time and ingredient intensive dishes this week as a substitute for dairy and I hated both. And I'm tired, so, it's frustrating doing all that work and then ordering take out. OKay, b*tch fest over. I'll just keep trying. Thanks for the rec. I am really curious about the cashew cheese. Does it taste really cashewy? I just made cashew milk for the first time this week and it was so cashewy I couldn't eat it.
 

Originally Posted by catnip 

I've never tried making cheese-cheese, but this spread is good- http://hecookssheclicks.com/2010/02/23/vegan-crock-cheese/

There's a recipe in the Real Food Daily cookbook for a meltable, shredable cashew cheese, I've had it in their restaurant, and it's divine, but like so many of their foods, it's difficult and time consuming, and requires expensive and/or hard to find ingredients or tools, so I haven't tried it myself. (Seriously - their tempeh bacon is the BEST EVER, but it requires a range top smoker, which is not in my arsenal of kitchen tools).

[catnip]

Did you use raw or toasted cashews? I don't find stuff that is made with raw cashews to taste cashew-y, but I also am not pregnant. I lived my whole first trimester on soft-boiled eggs and toast, bananas and PBJ because of my food aversions.

[crunchy_mommy]

I've made cheese like this a few times & it came out good (although I'm very impatient & I think I could have let it ferment longer & been less lazy with following directions). Cashews seem to make the best texture & creaminess but I am allergic so I use walnuts, sunflower seeds, or almonds. I've also made something with a similar taste but no wait time -- using miso, tahini, lemon juice, salt, a bit of nutritional yeast, and spices. It makes a creamy cheese rather than a sliceable one. Speaking of, I also made a "cream cheese" from almond pulp leftover from making almond milk. I think I used the pulp, salt, white balsamic vinegar, and spices. Was great with cinnamon or a sprinkle of chives.

I have been wanting to try using vegetable rennet tablets to make mozzerella-style cheese from coconut milk but from my research, "real" vegan cheeses aren't as simple to make as dairy ones & most people have mixed results (as evidenced by the poor availability of really good commercial vegan cheeses!) I actually considered making breastmilk cheese with the veg. rennet but I don't think I'd be able to bring myself to eat it (plus you'd need to pump A LOT of milk, a gallon makes one ball of cheese!)

Anyway, if nothing above sounds appealing, you could try other brands of "cheeze" like Sheese, Teese, Follow Your Heart, I think even Galaxy makes a vegan cheese now.

Oh P.S. -- use raw nuts not toasted!

[OrangeMoon]

Thanks for responding! :-)

So we've had a real breakthrough here. Out of pregnancy laziness we've been ordering dinner from this vegan restaurant nearby and I ordered a salad (that I want to be able to make myself it is SO good), and it had an almond cheese on it that is AMAZING. No nut taste at all. I think I'd compare it to like cottage cheese/ricotta consistency? So kind of crumbly/smooth. But it had such a great creamy texture with no like icky aftertaste, I am IN LOVE, lol. I think it's a really great first step in having something with that kind of cream cheese texture for stuff. We ordered veggie/cheese quesadillas from there too and they use a daiya type cheese and I hated it. So I was thinking if I made veggie quesadillas I could just spread the almond cheese on top and it would add the cheese consistency. Do you think there's anywhere I could buy almond cheese? I don't need the typical cheese consistency, just something even cream cheese like to put on bread for a veggie sandwich, you know? Mustard gets old fast.

Listen to this salad recipe: Arugula, apples, shaved fennel, almond cheese and toasted cashews. Served with creamy cranberry dressing. So simple but SO incredibly good. Maybe net time I order I can try and get out of them what the dressing ingredients are and work from there.

Yeah, how much breast milk you'd need to make all the cheese people eat is actually a really compelling argument I think that people shouldn't be eating so much of it. If it was socially acceptable though I think it would take a huge load off of animals so maybe I'll try it. I think using someone else's BM would be a lot less weird than eating your own, lol. But for my toddler, I think making cheese out of my BM would make perfect sense. Maybe a almond/BM mixture for the kiddo, lol.

So now to find places that have almond cheese pre made and if not find recipes online.

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy 

I've made cheese like this a few times & it came out good (although I'm very impatient & I think I could have let it ferment longer & been less lazy with following directions). Cashews seem to make the best texture & creaminess but I am allergic so I use walnuts, sunflower seeds, or almonds. I've also made something with a similar taste but no wait time -- using miso, tahini, lemon juice, salt, a bit of nutritional yeast, and spices. It makes a creamy cheese rather than a sliceable one. Speaking of, I also made a "cream cheese" from almond pulp leftover from making almond milk. I think I used the pulp, salt, white balsamic vinegar, and spices. Was great with cinnamon or a sprinkle of chives.

I have been wanting to try using vegetable rennet tablets to make mozzerella-style cheese from coconut milk but from my research, "real" vegan cheeses aren't as simple to make as dairy ones & most people have mixed results (as evidenced by the poor availability of really good commercial vegan cheeses!) I actually considered making breastmilk cheese with the veg. rennet but I don't think I'd be able to bring myself to eat it (plus you'd need to pump A LOT of milk, a gallon makes one ball of cheese!)

Anyway, if nothing above sounds appealing, you could try other brands of "cheeze" like Sheese, Teese, Follow Your Heart, I think even Galaxy makes a vegan cheese now.

Oh P.S. -- use raw nuts not toasted!

[OrangeMoon]

Wow, could it really be this simple? Even I can do this! lol. I like the added herbs idea for when putting it on crackers and stuff. Yummm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk64kkETkdQ

Edited by OrangeMoon - 12/22/10 at 7:12pm

[JamSamMom]

Originally Posted by OrangeMoon 

Wow, could it really be this simple? Even I can do this! lol. I like the added herbs idea for when putting it on crackers and stuff. Yummm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk64kkETkdQ

Thanks for posting!  This looks yummy!

[sassycat]

http://www.amazon.com/Uncheese-Cookbook-Creating-Dairy-Free-Substitutes/dp/0913990426

the un-cheese cookbook has some good ones!

[OrangeMoon]

This one looks even yummier. You bake this one, got really good reviews. Odd it doesn't have probiotics though? I'm 36 hours into soaking my almonds, lol. I'll let you all know how it goes.

[maciascl]

I haven't tried any of them but there are lots of cheese recipes on VegWeb and Veganaise is AMAZING in place of mayo.

[OrangeMoon]

Okay, so, I peeled the almonds after soaking and it was a total pain in the as*. I am buying blanched next time. I kind of combined

this recipe

http://www.food.com/recipe/almond-feta-cheese-spread-with-herb-oil-vegan-364732

and this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk64kkETkdQ

So I soaked the almonds, peeled them, placed them in the most similar thing I could find in our house to cheese cloth, let it sit overnight. And I just now added some herbs (not as herby as raw radiant health recipe made it), and I am SO excited to say it is baking in the oven now. I put some last night on a whole wheat bagel that had sprouts, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, and black olives. It was SOOOOOO good, I can't wait to try it post bake. It's like a fluffy cream cheese but is just the perfect thing that doesn't have a weird taste when you want something creamy on like a sandwich or whatever. I think I'm going to make one of those pizzas with slices of tomato, and basil that usually has mozarella but use this insetad. It is SSOOOOOOOOOOO good. JUST what I've been looking for. Maybe I'll take a pic when it's done. Is there a way to post it?

[crunchy_mommy]

Yes, in your reply click on the image icon: 

I would love to see it, it sounds so yummy! 

You totally inspired me, I have almonds that have been soaking since last night & am going to make this today (probably a combo of the 2 recipes like you did)... Funny, I was JUST JUST looking at that same food.com recipe a few minutes before I read your post!!