So, as it is often said, cheese is for many people the most difficult thing to give up when moving to a vegan diet.
I was vegetarian for about 20 years myself before finding out about the dark side of the egg and dairy industry, and I definitely liked to consume a lot of cheese.
When I went vegan, I used the "Cold Turkey" approach and simply did not consume any more cheese. After some time, however, I decided to try out some of the vegan cheeses available, and some were very nice (e.g. Vegusto, Wilmersburger, certain flavours from Cheezly, Daiya, and some more), while others were lacking.
Recently, however, I started to try making my own vegan cheese, and was surprised how easy it is to get very nice results with little work. So here I am trying to tell you all to give it a try
Also, these are two facebook groups that might be helpful in the venture.
Vegan Cheese lovers club (closed group)
Vegan Cheese (open group)
Basically, the very good (artisan) vegan cheeses (Miyoko's, Kite Hill, etc.) are made from some kind of nut butter or milk, and cultured with a ferment. This is possibly not the easiest way to get started.
Easier vegan cheeses also are based on some nut basis (often cashews), and use a gelling agent (often agar-agar or kappa carrageenan) and some ingredients that add taste (e.g. Nutritional yeast, Marmite, Miso, garlic, vegan soup stock), and can typically be prepared in about half an hour with some time in the refrigerator to set.
A good starting point for "beginners" cheese that can be used as a basis for different tastes is Anja's website "Cooking with Plants". This is the basic "uncultured cashew cheese recipe" that got me started on making my own vegan cheese, as it is very quick and easy to prepare and tastes very good. Believe me or not, but since I have made the first batch of this, I have not bought any vegan cheese in the store. I usually make a large batch of it, and fill it in different containers, and before putting the container to rest, stir in some additional flavour on some of the cheeses (pesto works very well to get a nice green "basil" taste cheese, sundried tomatoes and tomato sauce make for a nice mediterranean tomato themed cheese, and the addition of liquid smoke adds the nice smoked taste)
Another easy one is Somer's "Smoked Coconut Gouda" from her Abundance Diet Cookbook.
This is also very easy to make and cheaper than cashew-based cheese, but the coconut base is not as versatile as the cashew cheese base (meaning that if you add additional flavours like pesto or tomato, it somehow does not harmonize as much as with the cashew based cheese).
Here are some pictures I already shared in another thread:
1250 grams of delicious Smoked Coconut Gouda.
Material cost? Maybe 15 $
after the unmolding, not completely firm, but not a "pudding" either ... just right!
... something I had been missing for some time. Delicious.
So ... I hope I could get you interested a little bit!
If you do have any questions, please feel free to ask!!!
I must say that I am still at the beginning of my cheese-making journey, e.g. I have not yet tried my luck and my capability at any of the cultured nut cheeses, but I will get to that point eventually.
If any of you do have experiences in the area of cheesemaking, I would really love to hear about them!!!
Best regards,
Andy
I was vegetarian for about 20 years myself before finding out about the dark side of the egg and dairy industry, and I definitely liked to consume a lot of cheese.
When I went vegan, I used the "Cold Turkey" approach and simply did not consume any more cheese. After some time, however, I decided to try out some of the vegan cheeses available, and some were very nice (e.g. Vegusto, Wilmersburger, certain flavours from Cheezly, Daiya, and some more), while others were lacking.
Recently, however, I started to try making my own vegan cheese, and was surprised how easy it is to get very nice results with little work. So here I am trying to tell you all to give it a try
Also, these are two facebook groups that might be helpful in the venture.
Vegan Cheese lovers club (closed group)
Vegan Cheese (open group)
Basically, the very good (artisan) vegan cheeses (Miyoko's, Kite Hill, etc.) are made from some kind of nut butter or milk, and cultured with a ferment. This is possibly not the easiest way to get started.
Easier vegan cheeses also are based on some nut basis (often cashews), and use a gelling agent (often agar-agar or kappa carrageenan) and some ingredients that add taste (e.g. Nutritional yeast, Marmite, Miso, garlic, vegan soup stock), and can typically be prepared in about half an hour with some time in the refrigerator to set.
A good starting point for "beginners" cheese that can be used as a basis for different tastes is Anja's website "Cooking with Plants". This is the basic "uncultured cashew cheese recipe" that got me started on making my own vegan cheese, as it is very quick and easy to prepare and tastes very good. Believe me or not, but since I have made the first batch of this, I have not bought any vegan cheese in the store. I usually make a large batch of it, and fill it in different containers, and before putting the container to rest, stir in some additional flavour on some of the cheeses (pesto works very well to get a nice green "basil" taste cheese, sundried tomatoes and tomato sauce make for a nice mediterranean tomato themed cheese, and the addition of liquid smoke adds the nice smoked taste)
Another easy one is Somer's "Smoked Coconut Gouda" from her Abundance Diet Cookbook.
This is also very easy to make and cheaper than cashew-based cheese, but the coconut base is not as versatile as the cashew cheese base (meaning that if you add additional flavours like pesto or tomato, it somehow does not harmonize as much as with the cashew based cheese).
Here are some pictures I already shared in another thread:
Material cost? Maybe 15 $
So ... I hope I could get you interested a little bit!
If you do have any questions, please feel free to ask!!!
I must say that I am still at the beginning of my cheese-making journey, e.g. I have not yet tried my luck and my capability at any of the cultured nut cheeses, but I will get to that point eventually.
If any of you do have experiences in the area of cheesemaking, I would really love to hear about them!!!
Best regards,
Andy
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