Raw Recipe: Simple Almond Cheese
Nut cheeses are a great item to have in your raw food recipe collection. They are tasty, easily support the addition of many herbs and spices, and will impress your raw and non-raw friends a like! There are a couple of different ways to make nut cheeses.
You can make delicious nut cheeses with macadamia nuts, cashew nuts and many other nuts and seeds.
Macadamia Nut Cheese made with probiotics.
(From the Rawmazing Holiday Book)
Probiotics: Probably the easiest, but most expensive way to make the “cheese” is to use probiotics. I love how this “cheese” tastes and the texture is wonderful and it is quite fail-proof. The only drawback is the cost of the probiotics. Most recipes require at least a teaspoon, which can be more than half a bottle of capsules. On the plus side, the cheeses are wonderful, the probiotics don’t require advanced preparation.
Cashew Cheese made with Rejuvelac
(recipe here: Cheese)
Rejuvelac: Raw Cheeses made with rejuvilac also have great taste and texture but can be a little more temperamental. Plus, you need to add a couple of days to your process to make the rejuvelac. The grain needs to be sprouted first and then made into rejuvelac. It can be a bit time consuming. That said, it makes a great cheese with wonderful, tangy taste and good texture.
Simple Almond Cheese (recipe follows)
Simple Cheese: Simple cheese spreads and simple cheeses can be made with just nuts and no fermentation process. I usually prefer these cheeses for spreads, but they can also be firmed up and dehydrated to form the rind.
Different nuts not only taste different, but also will give different textures. Almonds make a clean tasting cheese that is a little grainy. Macadamias make a beautiful, creamy cheese that develops good firm texture. Cashews make a smooth, easy to flavor cheese that has a bit of a softer texture.
Today’s recipe is pretty simple. I started my “cheese” when I got up. I threw the ingredients in the food processor, spooned it into a nut-milk bad and tossed it in the refrigerator. The next morning, I took it out, patted it into a round and tossed it in the dehydrator (to form a “rind”). By the evening, it was ready to go!
I hope I have inspired you to try your hand at nut cheese making. It is fun and tasty!
Soaked almonds with skins removed. It takes a little time but is very easy. They just pop right off.
The almonds should be well blended and smooth.
The mixture in the nut-milk bag, before putting it in the refrigerator.
Simple Almond Cheese
Simple Almond Cheese
- 1 cup almonds, soaked, drained and skins removed
- 3/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic
- pinch Himalayan Salt
- Soak almonds overnight in water. Drain and pop off skins.
Place all ingredients in food processor. Process until smooth. This will take a bit of time, don’t rush.
Place nut mixture in nut-milk bag or colander lined with cheese cloth.
Give a light squeeze and place in refrigerator over-night to set up.
You can use the cheese at this point or if you want it more firm, place it in the dehydrator for 6+ hours (at 115 degrees) to form a rind.
Dan kus wrote on October 16, 2013
how long does the cheese last in the fridge ?
Susan wrote on October 17, 2013
It usually keeps about a week.
Dan kus wrote on October 16, 2013
How many days does the cheese last in the fridge? Thanx
Susan wrote on October 17, 2013
About a week.
ashley wrote on September 10, 2013
hi!
would love to try these recipes. when you say “dehydrator” do you mean one with the different different levels for drying fruit, or a different kind? I don’t have one, and would like to order one, and I’m sure I’ll be making a good amount of cheeses in the near future 🙂
Susan wrote on September 11, 2013
https://rawmazing.com/tsm-dehydrators/ These are very good dehydrators. The Excalibur (available in the store) is another good option.
ashton wrote on August 19, 2013
I am allergic to raw almonds. Will this recipe still work if I roast the almonds beforehand?
Clau wrote on August 9, 2013
For those of you that dont have nut milk bags or cheese cloth and thinking about some crazy ideas.. JUST USE A PILLOW CASE! For making nut cheese, cow cheese and tofu, works just like a cheese cloth BUT its much cheaper and you dont have to take an extra ride to the store to get it. 🙂
Spirit Wolf wrote on August 5, 2013
I knew it: I forgot one of my most important question! :/ So here it is now: Once dried and powdered, will this cheese melt in cooking? For example, if I decide to use it to make a cheese sauce for, say, macaroni and cheese, will it melt and produce a nice smooth sauce just as real cheese would? So Far I have tried spreading a little over a microwaved potato and heating for thirty seconds but it didn’t show any signs of melting that way. If it woun’t produce satisfactory cheese sauces when needed, I’ll need to figure something else out. I prefer to dry and powder it because I figure it would keep as long as possible that way, and I don’t know it fresh and unpowdered would do any better or whatever tor this purpose. Thank you.
Spirit Wolf wrote on August 5, 2013
Thank you for your response, Susan. I find your advice most helpful. 🙂 I have made this cheese twice so far. The first time I followed the recipe exactly. I thought the results were a little to “wet” and bland. So this time I upped the lemon juice to four tablespoons instead of three, increased the salt, added garlic and onion and a little bit of basil (don’t know why, it just smells so good! LOL) and cut the water from 3/4 cup down to half a cup. I am very pleased with the result. Aside fro being a little too overboard with the salt, it tastes fantastic! Also, the water reduction did exactly what I thought it would do: gave it a firmer texture and more what I thought a freshly made raw cheese texture should be like. There wasn’t even any residual excess moisture to drain off whatsoever! Right now it is sitting on my countertop covered with a napkin, as I plan on dehydrating it that way to see how that turns out. My first batch I dehydrated and then ground it into “powdered” cheese with my trusty Magic Bullet.
My questions are: once it’s dehydrated and “powdered,” can it be kept in a jar on my countertop, or do I need to store it in the refrigerator? Also, how long can I expect it to keep in this form?
Thank you so much for your time and attention and quick responses. I just love this page and reading everyone else’s comments! 🙂
Sharon wrote on August 3, 2013
Susan, is it possible to make the macadamia nut cheese with Rejuvelac or other substitute for probiotic?
Susan wrote on August 3, 2013
Yes!!
Spirit Wolf wrote on August 1, 2013
P. S. My power settings on my microwave are from one to nine. I’m thinking maybe three, four, or five, but I don’t know for sure and *really* want to do this right.