Experimenting with Vegan cheese

       Ever since I was told by my doctors that I would have to make some changes - and this time that "talk" actually took hold, I've been trying to live a healthier lifestyle.  It's been a bit of an uphill battle as both Sue and I are stuck in our ways.

    If change is inevitable then why not start with easy and fun things?   Then move on to some of the harder stuff later on?  So one way that I've decided to try and incorporate a healthier lifestyle is through my love of cheese making.  Never in a million years did I think I would choose this as a hobby, but I do have a love of cheese, experimenting in the kitchen and a love of trying new things. 

    Thus vegan cheese.

    To be honest I wasn't sure what to expect, and I can truthfully say that some of them I really enjoyed.   So I'm going to talk about my experiences making some of these cheeses and my taste tests.  Your mileage may vary.  

Vegan Mozz

    It was also an adventure trying to find some of these ingredients.   I was surprised to find nutritional yeast at Trader Joe's (full discloser - this is a non commercial site, I don't receive squat from anyone mentioned).  However my search for Agar Agar  lead me to the East End Co-op whose very knowledgeable and friendly staff that helped me tremendously through this ongoing experimentation.  

    It was through them that I discovered that nutritional yeast, which gives much of vegan cheese its "CHEESE" flavor can be used on popcorn as a flavoring, and that tahini is an excellent addition to ice cream.

    One thing that I did quickly learn however is that you really can't make too many adjustments to the ingredients.  It can and will affect the process.  Plus it's not a bad idea to read up on some of the ingredients used.  Agar for example is over $3 an ounce, so it's not something you wish to waste. 

    The "Parmesan Cheese" made out of nothing by cashews, nutritional yeast, salt and garlic tastes so close to the real grated Parmesan cheese that most of my friends and family could not tell the difference.  Most actually thought it was the real thing.   Over time the nutty flavor comes through, and most of these cheeses will only last about five days at most, but even then it's a nice compliment to the dish.   This one will replace what we normally buy.

    Is it wrong of me to like the Black Pepper Cream Cheese I made more than I like the store bought cream cheese I normally buy?  Sadly I did not have any liquid smoke that this recipe calls for, but it still provided a wonder spread for bagels or toast in the morning.   Between this and the Amish Cup Cheese (dairy) spread, I don't ever see me buying regular Cream Cheese again.  

   Some things however just didn't work out.   I made traditional (dairy) Mozzarella using a 30 minute recipe, which didn't work out to well for me.   It acted like Mozzarella, looked like Mozzarella but was lacking something in the taste.

A Sesame seed cheese

    Later on in the week I thought I would try an EASY (their quote) Stretchy Vegan Mozzarella Cheese  Frankly the two looked very similar.   However this cheese tasted nothing like Mozzarella when cold, either in texture or taste.  It was only when it was cooked that the "cheese" flavor came out.  When it did, it was Mozzarella! 

    However we don't really make a lot of food which "works" with melted Mozzarella.   However it worked divinely on homemade pizza, and as the topping on a black bean burger the other night.

    It's not a bad thing and I am considering both experiments to be a success, but I didn't honestly care for either if If I'm being honest.  Currently I'm trying to find a "hard" vegan cheese; as most vegan cheese recipes seem to be sauces, designed to cover a vegetable dish of some sort. 

    Recently I experimented with a Vegan Sesame Cheese, which was my first attempt at a "hard" vegan cheese, however I replaced un-hulled sesame seeds with tahini simply because I didn't have sesame seeds available.  Otherwise I followed the recipe and used basil, garlic and onion and my flavoring.  Again I was a bit disappointed, it did not firm up the way I had hoped and the flavor was...unappealing and not as "cheesy" as I had hoped.  

    However that was my fault, I didn't follow the recipe.  Having used sesame seeds would have made the difference, and tahini can be added to the original recipe to firm it up.  Overall though I would consider this particular cheese to be a failure.  Lesson learned.   Follow the recipe!

    I am also planning on making a hard slice-able Cashew Cheese, perhaps a beer infused cheese ball!  I even have a recipe for a Hickory Smoked Vegan Cheese  that is actually aged for up to three weeks!   However for a variety of reasons I'm putting off those two cheeses for the foreseeable future.

      I may try a vegan cheese sauce or two in the future as well.  That's the cool thing that I love about cheese making.   The varieties are endless, and you can experiment to some degree as well.   Much like life itself  not everything will be a success but the learning never stops and as we all know; sometimes life can be downright delicious.