Say (Vegan) Cheese! The Basics of Vegan Cheesemaking
Whether you eat dairy products or not, the vegan cheese recipes will surely knock your socks off. Some people even say they’re better than regular cheese. With a little fermentation knowledge (and practice), you’ll be making delicious vegan cheese in no time! To get started, all you need is a culture starter recipe (with this recipe in your back pocket, you will be a fermentation master) and a simple cheese spread recipe. Luckily for you, we’ve got both right here!
The following are excerpts from Wildcrafted Fermentation by Pascal Baudar and have been adapted for the web.
Culture Starter
Making a culture starter is as simple as making a basic sauerkraut. The only difference is that I may use more liquid than necessary because I’m more interested in the fermenting brine than the ingredients.
For my purposes, I want to use the young and very active fermenting brine created during the initial fermentation. That’s when you get a lot of bacterial activity. I can start using the brine when I see that it’s active and fermentation gases are present; the timing is normally from day 3 to around day 10, depending on the temperature. In all honesty, I have used the brine of an aged ferment (a couple of weeks old) as a starter and it did work, but I would need to experiment more before concluding it works every time.
Once the fermentation is active, you can use the liquid as a culture starter. Photograph curtesy of Pascal Baudar.
Makes about 1-Quart jar
Ingredients
1 small green cabbage (around 1 1⁄2 pounds / 680 g)
1 tablespoon (17 g) salt
Around 1⁄2 cup (118 ml) water
Equipment
Knife and cutting board
Large mixing bowl
1-quart jar with lid (washed and clean)
Canning funnel (optional, but it helps)
Procedure
- Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage. Quarter the cabbage and slice it into thin strips. Add it to the bowl and sprinkle on the salt.
- Massage the cabbage, squeezing forcefully with both hands until it becomes very watery. I like to do this in a few steps: Massage for 3 minutes, let the cabbage rest for 5 minutes, then do it one more time until it’s quite juicy.
- Place a canning funnel (optional) on top of the jar and pack the cabbage inside it. You can also just use your hand or a wooden cabbage pounder. The goal is to eliminate air pockets, but also to have liquid (brine) covering the contents. The jar should be around 75 percent full.
- Next, add the water. Try to leave 1 to 11⁄2 inches (2.5–3.8 cm) headspace (the space between the brine and the rim of the jar).
- Place the lid on top and close it. When making a starter, my technique is either to shake the contents at least once daily and burp the jar as necessary or open the jar, stir the contents at least once daily, then close the lid again (burping as necessary). If you want, you can also unscrew the lid a tiny bit to let fermentation gases escape, which is probably a more workable arrangement if you don’t work at home as I do.
Once the fermentation is active, you can start using the brine. Sometimes, if the ferment was only 2 or 3 days old and I used most of the brine for starter, I make another generation of culture starter by adding a new brine composed of a bit less than 1 teaspoon (4 g ) of salt per cup; I let this ferment with the cabbage for another couple of days before I use the new fermenting brine.
After that, the cabbage is either composted or used for other culinary applications such as soup. Don’t just throw it away!
Cashew Cheese Spread
Before we make hard cheeses, let’s start with some soft ones. Making fermented spread cheeses is a cinch. The cheeses can be used on toast or bread, but I also love to serve them on the side with my wild food salads.
A whole world of culinary creativity opens up when you add spices as flavorings. With a soft cheese you can include savory ingredients in the paste—chili flakes, curry, and various spice blends—but also fresh ingredients such as garlic and chives or even wild edibles like minced chervil, sweet white clover, and chickweed. Because it’s a fermentation process, which can discolor fresh herbs and also alter the flavor profiles, I tend to add raw ingredients just before serving.
You can also add another layer of flavors and decoration by topping the cheese with herbs and spices.
The procedure is straightforward. First, I soak the cashews for at least 8 hours, then use my blender (Vitamix) to make a paste. You can alter the consistency by the amount of liquid you add when blending the ingredients.
To start up the fermentation, instead of just adding regular water in the blender to make the paste, I add the liquid of an active ferment. Most of the time I just use a Culture Starter, but you can probably use a ratio of 50 percent starter and 50 percent water. If I have some kimchi fermenting, I may add some of that juice as well.
Another option is to use water along with probiotics. For 2 cups (312 g) of raw cashews, you need the contents of 2 probiotic capsules. This introduces the lacto bacteria that will initiate the fermentation process and accentuate the “cheesy” flavor of the paste.
To make the paste, you’ll need to use the blender tamper and push the ingredients down from time to time. I use around 2 cups or 11 ounces (312 g ) of cashews (before soaking) when making a batch.
I start with the blender on low, add some Culture Starter, and slowly increase the speed while actively pushing the ingredients down with the tamper. If the blades stop mixing the contents, add a little more starter. For a soft cheese, I end up using around 3⁄4 cup (177 ml) of starter, but you could use more if you want a lighter consistency. The goal is to blend at high speed for a minimum of 10 seconds until very smooth.
Next, use a spatula to remove the contents to a bowl and add some cheese flavorings. For around 2 cups (473 ml) of paste, I use the following:
4–5 tablespoons (16–20 g) nutritional yeast
1 1⁄2 tablespoons (6 g) garlic powder
1 tablespoon (18 g) miso
1⁄2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) liquid smoke (optional)
Top: Fermented cashew and acorn flour spread cheese flavored with nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and miso. Middle: Fermented cashew, pine nut, and acorn flour spread cheese flavored with nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and miso. Bottom: Fermented cashew, pine nut, and acorn flour spread cheese flavored with nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and miso. Photograph curtesy of Pascal Baudar.
Taste the paste and add salt if necessary; you want it to be salty. From experience, the saltiness will go down a bit during the fermentation. You can also add other spices and dry herbs at this stage such as chili flakes, curry powder, Italian Herbs or Herbes de Provence, and so on. Using the back of a spoon, spread the cheese evenly inside the bowl and clean the sides with a paper towel. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and let the cheese ferment at room temperature for 24 to 48 hours, then store it in the fridge. For best flavors, eat the cheese within 8 days.
Taste when you’re ready to use it and add more nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and spices if necessary. If you want to use fresh herbs (like chives and garlic), mix them in a few hours before serving. If you like, decorate the top with additional spices, herbs, or edible flowers.
Creative Spread Cheeses
There are no limits to the creative possibilities with spread cheeses. I usually make my final savory and fresh ingredient additions a few hours before serving, but if you use dried spices or herbs, you can also add them a couple of days prior to treating your guests. This would leave time for the dried herbs to infuse flavors.
A lot of fresh savory herbs from the store or garden will work well: parsley, cilantro, dill, chives, basil, thyme, marjoram, tarragon, oregano, and so on. A classic French mix would be fresh garlic and chives.
On the wilder side, I often use wild fennel, bur chervil, California sagebrush, chickweed, and different kinds of wild mint. On the East Coast you could use garlic mustard, wild garlic, ramps, and so on.
Various kinds of onions (red, sweet, yellow), shallots, and garlic cloves, minced or chopped, are good savory additions as well.
Fresh chili peppers are fantastic. I once made a “salsa” spread cheese by mixing standard and wild ingredients including minced jalapeños, red onion, wild chervil, cilantro, and a touch of garlic. The cheese top was decorated with sliced tomatoes, cilantro, and some lime juice. Truly delicious.
If you’re a skilled wildcrafter, you can dehydrate local aromatic herbs and make your own herb blend, but you can also purchase some interesting premade ones such as herbes de Provence, Italian herbs, and Cajun or Old Bay Seasoning mix.
You can find books and online information on creating spice and herb blends. I grew up with herbes de Provence so it’s one of my favorite blends, but I often add local flavors with a bit of white sage, black sage, California sagebrush, and California bay.
Just mix the ingredients and taste as you go along. It’s nearly impossible to go wrong if you have a delicious fermented cheese as your base.