Vegetable cheese: what it is

Vegetable cheese is not a real cheese, just as vegetable milk is improperly called milk.

Vegetable cheese is a preparation based on non-animal products, therefore vegetable, of various types, which however has the consistency and appearance of cheese of animal origin.

With the increase in the number of people who have chosen to turn their diet on vegetable products, excluding animal ones, both for ethical choices and for healthy choices, or even just for their own personal taste, the food industry has adapted to the production of cheese substitutes and beverages commonly based on animal raw materials.

Food is a pleasure, and those who think that those who eat vegetable cheese always hide the desire and regret for real cheeses, are wrong.

Often cheese is called a preparation that has no ingredients of animal origin, not to fool yourself or the palate, or for a sort of punitive nostalgia: it is done simply because, due to its shape and use, it is very close, without losing taste and indeed gaining health, with cheese.

Finding vegetable cheeses on the market is very simple. Some are of excellent quality, with an eye also on the production of raw materials. Others, on the other hand, may contain excipients or sweeteners that nullify the healthy choice of those who decide to eliminate animal products from their diet.

It is easy to check the origin of some ingredients, while for others it is more difficult. So what's better than producing your own vegetable cheese by yourself and at home?

Let's see how to make the goat of cashews with simple, healthy and easy ingredients .

Cashew goat cheese

Cashew goat's main ingredient is these seeds deriving from a tropical plant.

As the cashews are produced in places far away from Italy, check, if you can, the production chain, and the ingredients: not always the bags of nuts and seeds found in supermarkets contain only what you see.

Sometimes they are added with substances that prolong their conservation. So, as for the cashew cream, read well what is on the package.

Once the cashews are chosen, you are ready to produce the cashew goat cheese.

Ingredients:

> 150 g of un-roasted and unsalted cashews;

> cold natural water;

> 4 g of acidophilus probiotic powder (two capsules);

> 1 pinch of salt;

> white wine vinegar;

> food yeast;

> pepper;

> aromatic herbs;

> spices of your choice.

Preparation:

The cashews are washed well, and are left to soak overnight. Rinse well and blend in a mixer coarsely, together with two tablespoons of water. Probiotics are dissolved in a little warm water, and added.

Add the salt and blend until a smooth and homogeneous paste is obtained . Put the dough in a bowl, cover it with a cotton cloth, and let it rest in a warm place in the dark for 12-16 hours, so as to allow the yeasts to "digest" the mixture.

In summer, the oven is closed and off, while in winter you can wrap the bowl in a heavy wool blanket and always put it in the oven off.

Once the cheese is fermented, two tablespoons of white wine vinegar are added and, if desired, two tablespoons of nutritional yeast, or pepper or other ingredient that allows to flavor the goat: turmeric, aromatic herbs, spices, curry, masala, thyme, oregano, parsley, etc.

Let it rest in the fridge for one or two days and then the goat is ready.