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Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookHello, all. I was reading the thread on Dr. Cow cheese, and it struck me how much everyone loves cheese- I was a cheese fiend, pre-raw, and now I love the nut cheese. However, because of the fat content, I try not to indulge too often. I think maybe more people find the same thing- but wouldn’t it be great if there was a raw cheese that wasn’t so heavy? I remember reading somewhere that almond pulp (left over from nut mylk, par example)is basically just the fibre, without any of the fat/oil. It was actually referred to as “defatted.” This is because, apparently, soaking nuts for such a long time, blending them, and then straining them so well can basically rid it of all its oils and leave it virtually fat-free. Now, if that’s true- and if anyone has any info on that, please let me know- then perhaps, just maybe, there could be a way to get a cheese from the nut pulp that is fairly fat-free? I’d like to do an experiment- soak nuts for a looong time, then blend, then strain the pulp out. From there, I’d imagine I could add a few things like lemon or garlic, probiotics or acidopholus, and then leave it to ferment. I’m not sure if it would work the same, but it seems like it could- and if it did, I might have fat-free nut cheese! Does that seem like it could work, or am I missing a vital part somewhere?
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I don’t know about the nut pulp thing, but FYI – I just tried “Tommie’s cashew cheese” and wanted to give you a heads up that if it’s the heavy feeling you get from eating high fat content, I didn’t get that with this. I made a batch, put it in the fridge and when I used it later I had to water it down to get it to spread (on zuchini noodles) and then later in the night I had it again on zuchini slices and didn’t feel bad or too full or anything.
I like Zoe’s Spring Onion Cheeze (using sunflower seeds). I substitute hemp seeds for the pine nuts, since my home is a nut free home. yummy, and it seems much lighter than nut cheezes. I’m sure it is still high fat, but it is the only overt fat that I eat while I’m eating a batch, and it seems like a good balance.
Because cheese is all basically just animal fat, you’d be hard pressed to make a fat free alternative that is anything like the texture of cheese.
You could replicate the flavour very easily though, by using lemon juice, and salt on anything bland. When you get the ratio correct you will have a cheese taste.
To make the cheese actually digestible (at least for me) I always soak my nuts in probiotics for 24 hours which makes them much more digestible than just soaking plain., and then grind them with water till creamy. Add acidophilous, wrap in cheesecloth, and put away in the fridge for at least a week. The result is tangy and sharp, digestible cheese. It only works with truly raw nuts. You can’t make cheesy without some source of fat, as Zoe said. In order to ferment the cultures eat the fat. But if you want real, tangy, ultra digested nut cheese, follow what I said to do. I prefer not to just add lemon juice because half the advantage of making real nut cheese is that the nuts become much more light and digestible than when you’re just soaking them.
Defattted only means that some of the fat was removed. Defatted soy flour is definitely not fat-free. I wouldn’t make the assunmption that leftover almond pulp will be fat free, either. If you took all the fat out of nuts, there wouldn’t be a whole lot left, except gritty, tasteless bits of fibre. As Zoe pointed out, most of the appeal of cheese is the fat content. Ever tried fat-free cheese? It’s revolting. I suspect a fat-free nut cheese (if it’s even possible to create) would have a taste reminiscent of ground-up chalk—not that I’ve eaten any ground chalk. I can certainly imagine its consistency, though.
theres a becky’s nut free cheese recipe on here. no nuts… but i does call for one avocado and a lil coconut. i prefer avocado of nuts anyday. though i think avo has more fat?
I have to give a shout out to Zoes Spring Onion Cheese!! I am somewhat new to vegan and raw (4 months), and had a weekend getaway with family. I took along my juicer, food processor, and tons of veggies. Among other things, I made the Spring onion cheese. Everybody, including nonvegans LOVED it!!
Actually, sunflower seeds are a good sub for cashews in some recipes esp. if you are making dairy type fermented things. I think they are less fattening than cashews right?
‘tis a pity, it would’ve been kind of cool if nut pulp could be soaked until all the oils were gone, then made into cheese. Fat-free cheese… ah well. I kind of want to try it anyway, just because I’m curious if it’ll work. When you guys make nut milk, how much of the oil seems left in the pulp?
Well, I usually squeeze mine hard and dry so the pulp is dry and crumbly. Couldn’t detect any fat. Sunflower seeds would work great, I just don’t do them because I don’t digest seeds that well. I would be curious to see how that comes out.
when you dehydrate buckwheat sprouts to make buskwheaties, they taste a little cheesy, and there isn’t any fat in them, I wonder if you could do something with them and the nut pulp. It all sounds really icky to me but I’d love to know what you end up with!
Sunflower seeds ARE lower in fat than cashews, which are lower in fat than walnuts, pecans, pine nuts, Brazil nuts and macadamias. If you soaked the sunflower seeds, the fat content will be a bit lower, though I’m not sure I entirely buy into that 75% fat content before soaking and 25% after theory. If you’re not eating gobs of nuts, seeds, coconut butter, cacao nibs, oils and avocadoes every day, what little fat is in the soaked seed cheeze or pate should really not be worth worrying about. I prefer the nut and seed cheeze when the nuts/seeds have been well soaked. They blend more thoroughly and the texture isn’t as cement-like, probably due to the fact that the oil content is lower.
I will second this one! Zoe's Spring Onion Cheese was the very first raw recipe I tried; took it to a VERY non-raw potluck and it was the biggest hit of the evening. It has been requested for me to bring to every party now.
I am going to venture out and try a Nacho Cheeze recipe a raw friend sent me (she swears by it), for a party this weekend... It uses cashews, which I guess are "fattier" than the sunflower seeds and pine nuts used in the Spring Onion cheese. On the other hand, it only uses a cup of the cashews, and adds peppers and butternut squash for the rest of its texture.
Fingers crossed!