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.
mike wrote on February 11, 2015
I am a chef by trade and love thw idea of using fresh ingredients and allowing food to be created in many various ways. I made thw almond cheese but I do not have a dehydrator but I do have a smoker with cold smoke settings. On its lowest it is just above 90 degrees so I used this but only used half the amount of chips. What developed was a beautiful rind and a soft smokey flavor. Highly recommended.
frozen cheese biscuits wrote on January 29, 2015
I love your recipes. I wanna try making the almond cheese today. I am a newbie to raw, and love this site. Thanks so much.
michele wrote on January 1, 2015
Good morning,
I am on my fourth batch of this wonderful recipe and have one question and a few comments that might be helpful for others that will read this far down in the comments. 🙂
The question…do you think that this can be frozen? I have made more than I can consume and have given some away, but would love to make it in batches and save it.
The comments, first, i have had a great time playing with seasonings, both fresh and dried, and have not yet found anything that tasted bad or effected the texture terribly. i double the batches and divide into four “balls” to have a variety of flavors.
Nutritional yeast is great with any other seasonings, or by itself. Chipotle, paprika and onion is fantastic. Dill with lime instead of lemon was very refreshing and light.
I also found that the flavors really pop when it is heated, even just a bit, either on toast or fresh out of the dehydrator. Makes a wonderful warm cheese spread.
Thank you so much for sharing this and opening my eyes (and mouth) to how easy and fun it can be to make nut cheese!
Susan wrote on January 12, 2015
I haven’t frozen it yet but it probably can be. I would try freezing a small batch and see if you like the results. Cheers!
nei wrote on November 4, 2014
This recipe looks amazing. Do you have a recipe for maybe an almond smoked/sharp cheddar?