Cashew Cheese

soaked cashews blended smooth and cultured with live probiotics until tangy and savoury, then set firm, a dairy-free cheese that ages and spreads like the real thing, born of the Western plant-based kitchen

Origin: United States

From the journey of Cashew.

If cashew cream was the great discovery of the modern plant-based kitchen, cashew cheese was its triumph. Cooks found that the same mild, fatty, smoothly blending cashew could be not merely flavoured but truly cultured: blended to a paste and left to ferment with live probiotic cultures, exactly as dairy milk is soured into cheese, it develops a genuine tang, depth, and savoury complexity, and can then be set firm, rolled in herbs or ash, and even aged. The result is far more than a sauce; it is a credible cheese, spreadable and sliceable, that has become a centrepiece of vegan cheese-boards and a small artisan industry in its own right, from California to Europe. It is the furthest reach yet of the cashew's long history of reinvention: the New World nut that was the apple of the Tupi, the thickener of the Mughals, and the stir-fry nut of Asia, transformed, in the twenty-first-century West, into a cheese.

Ingredients

The Cheese

200 g raw cashews
60 ml water, plus more as needed

The Culture

2 capsules vegan probiotic powder (or 2 tbsp live vegan yoghurt, or rejuvelac)

To Season

0.75 tsp salt
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional, for a cheesier note)

To Finish

chopped herbs, cracked pepper, or ash, to coat (optional)

Method

Soak the cashews in cold water overnight (or in boiling water for 30 minutes), then drain and rinse well.
Blend the drained cashews with the water and the contents of the probiotic capsules (or the yoghurt or rejuvelac) until completely smooth, adding a little more water only if needed to blend. Do not add the salt yet.
Scrape into a clean bowl, cover with a cloth, and leave at warm room temperature (around 21 to 25°C) for 24 to 48 hours, until it smells and tastes pleasantly tangy and cheesy.
Stir in the salt and the nutritional yeast, if using, then pack the cheese into a small mould or cheesecloth-lined ramekin and press lightly.
Chill for at least 6 hours, or overnight, to firm up. Turn out and, if you like, coat in herbs, cracked pepper, or ash.
Serve as part of a cheese-board, spread on crackers or bread, or crumbled over salads and pasta.

Notes

Rejuvelac (a fermented grain water) is the traditional culture in raw-vegan cheese-making, but probiotic capsules or a spoonful of live vegan yoghurt are simpler and reliable. Flavour the cheese as you like: garlic and herbs for a Boursin style, smoked salt and pepper, or miso for extra umami. Always use raw, unroasted, unsalted cashews.

The Gastrographer

Name: Cashew Cheese
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 48 h
Yield: 8
Cuisine: United States
Ingredients: 200 g raw cashews; 60 ml water, plus more as needed; 2 capsules vegan probiotic powder (or 2 tbsp live vegan yoghurt, or rejuvelac); 0.75 tsp salt; 1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional, for a cheesier note); chopped herbs, cracked pepper, or ash, to coat (optional)

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control