Easy Vegan Cheese You Can Make At Home

Having ‘Wine and Cheese’ night at your place but need to make it vegan? You’re in luck! Vegan cheeses are surprisingly easy to make at home, so easy it might cause you to say ‘sayonara’ to dairy cheese forever! If you’re already making ‘cheese-less’ at home, you’re probably using cashews to whip it up because of their dense, creamy texture and lovely nutty flavour. But what about using another nut that's just as dense and creamy, if not more? 

You may not know this but Brazil nuts are perfect for whipping up a flavor-filled dairy free cheese at home. Because Brazil nuts have one of the highest fat contents of all the nuts, they are perfect for giving you the rich creamy texture that you desire. This silky smooth, creamy cheese not only offers a vegan alternative to traditional cheeses, but it is also soy free and gluten free! Though it does take about 2 days, believe me it’s totally worth it! Here’s our guidelines on how to make your very own Brazil nut cheese at home!

How to make Brazil nut cheese:

• Hold up! 

Before you do anything, Brazil nuts need to be soaked to help soften them before using in a Brazil nut cheese recipe. Due to their large size and firm texture, you will need to cover with cold water and soak for at least six to eight hours or even overnight.

• Blend and blitz it up!

After your Brazil nuts have been soaked, drain the water off of the Brazil nuts and make sure they are thoroughly dry. Peeling the Brazil nuts is not necessary, since their skins will dissolve and become part of the mixture. Depending on your preferred recipe, you may add in a few additional ingredients including oil, lemon juice or apple cider. Your favorite spices and herbs can also be added at this time as well as a pinch of salt!

Using a blender or a food processor, blitz the Brazil nuts very finely until it has reached a smooth consistency. You may need to pause occasionally and scrape the sides of the processor several times while doing this to make sure everything is fully blended.

• Strain It To Sustain It

To remove the extra nut milk, use a cheesecloth or nut milk bag to strain the mixture and remove the excess moisture, until it’s just slightly moist and a little crumbly. Transfer it to another dish and let’s move on to the last step!

• The Fermentation Part

Allowing your Brazil nut cheese to ferment can add additional flavor. The length of Brazil nut cheese fermentation does vary depending on the recipe and desired results, but generally speaking two full days should be enough time. Some recipes will also call for yeast, probiotic or other ingredients to help speed this step up, though it’s not entirely necessary.

• Herb n’ Serve it up

Now get experimental! You can use whatever you like to add a flavor-kick, but common ingredients added to nut cheese at this stage are garlic, parsley, thyme, salt, pepper, rosemary and more. Play around with flavor to get your perfect custom Brazil nut cheese that you and you and your family adore.

Making Brazil Nuts cheese is a fun and delicious way to enjoy vegan, dairy-free cheese right at home. Nutty, rich and full of flavor, Brazil nut cheese is an excellent vegetable-based protein packed addition to recipes, and can also be enjoyed with crackers or on bread. You’ll find that Brazil nut cheese recipes are easy to make even for first-timers and many recipe variations from cream cheese to cheese balls and spreads are available.