Vegan MoFo 3: Nut Cheese

October 3rd, 2011 · Lisa · gluten-free, raw, Recipes, Savory, sugar-free, vegan mofo · Comments
Okay, party people this week’s for you.
As I mentioned yesterday, delicious food is powerful activism. The subtle way it entices people, changes expectations and breaks down stereotypes, is a joy to watch.
But the food can’t do it alone. It needs you. It needs you to help it get in the door.
Which is why you have to get yourself invited to awesome parties. Especially, awesome potluck parties.
If you’re the only vegan attending the event, you can expect that at some point you will have to explain, “what the vegan brought”. If you think that this could happen to you, then you want to be sure you have prepared something that’s ready for the spotlight.
Imagine showing up with this beautiful platter of nut cheeses, crackers, and fruit.

What makes this dish so fabulous is that it literally takes a few minutes of hands-on time to prepare but it looks like you slaved away all week. There is a lot of soaking and fermenting to do but all that magic can happen while you’re at work, dreaming away or out on the town. So, as long as the big potluck is a few days away, you too can be known as the vegan cheese lady (thanks to Mattfor that).

This is just one example of how to build an impressive nut cheese plate. There are so many other wonderful possible additions: grapes, pears, dried fruit, cranberries, compote, tapenade, olives, flax crackers, etc.

I would suggest doing your final arranging once you arrive.

Preparing a few different nut cheese flavours improves your odds of impressing many different palates. For this arrangement I created three  options:

1. Macadamia nut cheese topped with tomatoes and purple basil
2. Brazil nut cheese with lemon and rosemary
3. Cashew cream cheese rolled in fresh chives.



The cashew cream cheese is particularly versatile. I’ve even used this recipe to create a delightfully tart raw mango cheesecake. So, I leave you today with the simple recipe. I hope you’ll use it in good faith and get yourself to lots of soirées this season.

Cashew Cheese
2 cups cashews, soaked 4 hours
1 tsp probiotic powder (I used Trophic brand but there are lots of non-dairy, veg-cap options)
Approximately ½ cup water
2 tsp nutritional yeast
½ tsp sea salt


1. Drain and rinse the cashews.
2. In a blender combine the cashews and probiotic powder. Blend the cashews adding water as necessary, just enough to get is super smooth.
3. In a strainer lined with cheesecloth allow the cashew cheese to ferment for 24 hours. Pick a warm place, like inside your oven with the light on or the top of your refrigerator to further promote the fermentation.
4. Stir in the nutritional yeast and sea salt.
5. Roll into a log shape, wrap in parchment paper or plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.
6. Before serving roll in fresh herbs of your choice.


Believe it or not this cashew cheese also freezes well, so if you’re anticipating a busy social schedule in the near future you can easily stock up.