Raw Vegan Cheese Recipe

by sunshiine

6.0K14518

Intro: Raw Vegan Cheese Recipe

Today there are many restricted diets for people who have food allergies. Some people choose these diets to loose weight, eat healthier, or for personal reasons. I hardly call these diets (fad diets). I think most people are doing it because of the methods used to raise animals and grow fruits and vegetables. Something is causing people to have an increase in food allergies. The food industry is carefully labeling products for people who have allergies. This was not done until the past few years from my observation.

There are different types of vegetarian and raw vegan diets. Some vegetarians will consume dairy products while strict vegetarians will not. A raw vegan diet is usually consisted of unprocessed foods cooked no higher than 104 degrees F using a food dehydrator and consuming raw food. When I was a vegetarian I did not know very many people who were vegetarians and finding great tasting recipes was a challenge. Thanks to the internet there are many available now. For this instructable I will show you how to make a great tasting vegan cheese.

This recipe is a crowd pleaser for almost anyone except those with nut allergies. Raw nut cheese is easy to make requiring few ingredients. I used to make a strict vegetarian brick cheese years ago using kosher gelatin. I altered My hard cheese recipe to make two raw nut cheese versions. I will show you how to make raw pepper cheese and raw dill cheese for this instructable. I like this raw vegan cheese recipe because it can be made in many different ways by switching out the seasonings.

This is an entry for the Raw Food ( vegan) contest here on instructables. If you like it, your vote will be appreciated. Lets make some delicious nut cheese!

STEP 1: Ingredients and Tools

Ingredients List is for 2 different types of cheese:

Raw cashews

Lemon

Garlic cloves

Red or yellow diced bell pepper

Un-refined sea salt

Dried (raw) dill or add choice of fresh or dried herbs.

Optional nutritional yeast 1-2 Tablespoons

Nutritional yeast optional for vegetarians this adds a lot of flavor but is not considered raw vegan. Many vegan recipes include nutritional yeast because of its nutritional value. Don't worry I will list the recipes for the pepper and dill cheese later.

Tools:

Blender or food processor, mandolin, knife, spoons, and small covered mixing bowls.

STEP 2: Pepper Cheese Recipe

Pepper cheese recipe:

1/2 Cup raw cashews washed and soaked for 6 hours

Approximately 4 Tablespoons raw diced red or yellow bell pepper add more if desired

1-2 Garlic cloves crushed

Pinch sea salt

About 1 /4 cup water slowly added as needed

Optional 1-2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast if vegetarian

I might have added a raw Serrano pepper to give it a kick but I did not have one.


STEP 3: Soak the Cashews

Method for both types of cheese:

Wash and soak the cashews in water. I used 1/2 cup

Soak for about 6 hours. The longer you soak them the softer the cheese.

Drain the water off the cashews.

STEP 4: Preparations for Pepper Cheese

Method:

Wash and dice the bell peppers I used about 4 tablespoons.


STEP 5: Add Ingredients to the Blender

I made two variations. One with bell pepper and one with dried dill.

Bell Pepper cashew cheese:

Place the cashews, diced bell pepper, garlic, salt, and nutritional yeast if desired and slowly add 1/4 cup of water as needed into the blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Place the cheese into the dish and chill covered for a couple of hours.

Serve with raw vegan crackers or use as a dip for fresh veggies.

Dill cheese:

Place cashews, dill or fresh diced or dried seasoning of choice, garlic, and salt into the food processor or blender slowly adding a little water until it is smooth.

I added lemon juice for the dill.

Place the cheese into a dish, cover and chill for a couple of hours.

Serve with vegan crackers or fresh vegetables.

STEP 6: Sunshiine's Final Thoughts

I tried to make a raw brick cheese but did not achieve the results I wanted so I made the pepper and dill cheese instead. I may post a vegetarian brick cheese sometime because it is really good. The flavor of the bell pepper cheese tasted a lot like nacho cheese. We liked both but our favorite was the pepper cheese.

I hope you try this recipe. It disappears quickly because it is so good.

I wish to thank contributors for making this a great place to share. Thanks so much for stopping by and do have a Happy Spring!

sunshiine

18 Comments

char6708 9 years ago

I think mine was to watery

sunshiine 9 years ago

I am sorry yours were too watery. The 1/4 cup of water was to be added as needed not all of it. I hope you give it another try. Thanks for sharing and do have a great day.

sunshiine~

danasf 9 years ago

It's been a few years since I've made nut cheese but now I'm inspired to try it again, thanks for sharing! Yum!

sunshiine 9 years ago

Thanks for sharing and do have a great weekend.

sunshiiine

gemjunkie 9 years ago

would this work almonds rather than cashews?

sunshiine 9 years ago

I have never used almonds because the brown skins need to be removed a lot like garbanzos. You soak them and then squeeze the nut between your fingers to remove the skin. Yes, I have seen recipes for raw or cooked cheese using almonds. Hope this helps. Thanks for asking and do have a super weekend!

sunshiine

HollyMann 9 years ago

thank you so much for this recipe Sunshiine :) I bought some nutritional yeast....have yet to use it. I am trying to transition into trying new dairy alternatives..this looks delicious!

sunshiine 9 years ago

Holly it is delicious on popcorn replacing the butter and a good replacement for parmesan cheese. The flavor will surprise you! It keeps longer chilled in an air tight container and can be frozen.) Thanks for sharing and have fun discovering the great taste of nutritional yeast.

sunshiine

lemuries 9 years ago

I really liked how careful you were about the yeast. I don't actually have that restriction, but it made me feel safe to follow your instructions because I could see you are careful about things.

Good job, and thank you for the recipe!

sunshiine 9 years ago

Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting. I have seen a lot of vegan recipes using yeast. I did a search and discovered it was not vegan but vegans use it because of its nutritional value. I hope this helps. Thanks again and do have a great spring!

sunshiine

cortes.lilia 9 years ago

Hi sunshiine,

Can you link to where you got the information that nutritional yeast is not vegan. Last I checked, it was in the fungi kingdom.

cortes.lilia 9 years ago

Ah I see, you were referring to raw vegan. Recipe looks yummy by the way.

sunshiine 9 years ago

Yes, you are correct and thank you about the recipe. I like nut cheese because my husband and I do not always eat up the cheese we have. this is a great way to not waste food.:)

sunshiine

sunshiine 9 years ago

It is a fungi. I posted links to give you but I guess they have to go through the filters. I will check back and repost them if they don't show up. The reason nutritional yeast is not 100% vegan is because it is pasteurized at high temperatures. But vegans do use it because of its nutritional value and if I understand correctly vegans are not usually 100% vegan, they will consume small amounts of processed food. Wikipedia search on nutritional yeast explains the process. I searched this question "is nutritional yeast considered raw vegan " if you want to search it now, it was under the tastyrawfood website.

Thanks so much for your comment and do have a great day!

sunshiine

Akin Yildiz 9 years ago

looks tasty, i am going to give it a try.

sunshiine 9 years ago

Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting. Have a splendid spring and summer!

sunshiine