Aged Cashew Cheeze

Having not eaten cheese for almost three decades, I don’t miss it at all anymore. When I first gave it up to become vegan, I mourned the loss of cheese in my life. It seemed I’d be missing out. Vegan food back then was generally limited to whatever you cooked! If you were lucky, you’d find the odd vegan option in a restaurant or café, and if you were fortunate enough to live near a vegetarian café, that it might also serve vegan dishes. While I don’t miss cheese, I do like to snack or have light meals with lots of nibbly bits and pieces such as cheezes, dips, crackers, crudités, olives and slices of tomato and fresh cucumber. So… this cheeze is, I admit, a bit of an effort but it is worth it to create a wild fermented cheese-like flavour. The fermenting and dehydration melds all the flavours together so that nothing really stands out and everything works together to form a rounded yet distinctly sharp-tasting cheeze. cheeze wheel (9cm diameter x 4cm-high ring mould) 

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups cashews
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons unpasteurised apple cider vinegar*
• 2 tablespoons fermented sauerkraut juice (drained from jar of sauerkraut) – optional
• 1 tablespoon cold-pressed olive oil
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon quality salt
• ½ teaspoon ground white pepper
• ½ teaspoon light-coloured miso paste* (shiro or genmai miso work well)
• 1 probiotic vegan capsule*
• Crackers and crudités, for serving

* You’ll find these ingredients at your local health-food store or online.

Directions:

1. Blend the cashews in a food processor for approximately 5 minutes or until a nut butter-like texture begins to form, scraping down the sides as necessary.
2. Add lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, sauerkraut juice (if using), olive oil, onion and garlic powders, salt, pepper and miso paste.
3. Break the probiotic capsule open and sprinkle the contents over the top. Process until the mixture forms a ball.
4. Using your hands, shape the cheeze ball into a wheel or use a 9cm-diameter ring mould to help you shape it. Place cheeze wheel on a plate, cover with a clean tea-towel or muslin cloth and let it sit for 12-24 hours to ferment naturally so the flavours deepen and mingle. (Do not refrigerate.)
5. Once fermented, remove ring mould (if used) and place cheeze wheel on a drying sheet in a dehydrator set to 41°C for 6-8 hours or until a crust forms on the outer edge.
6. If you don’t have a dehydrator, place the cheeze wheel on a baking tray lined with baking paper and set the oven to the lowest possible temperature. Dry the cheeze for 6-8 hours.
7. After dehydration (or time in the oven), place the cheeze wheel in the fridge overnight for best results, then simply serve and eat with crackers and crudités of your choice.

Keeps for 2-3 weeks in an airtight container in the fridge.  

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