When your heart (or your tummy ;)) craves a good slice of bread, coated with a salty, slightly tangy, and creamy spread, with this recipe for a vegan “cream cheese” you won’t be disappointed. This delicious spread is packed with healthy probiotics, plant-based proteins, minerals, and vitamins. The fermentation process will help your body make the most out of these ingredients.
The process is a bit long, since you need to give the good bacteria time to multiply. I am usually using Instant Pot to make this, but any yoghurt maker will do, or you may even use your oven to keep the temperature around 40 degrees celsius. See the recipes for details.
The cashews will ferment faster if previously soaked. I usually leave them overnight, but if you’re in a hurry, you may just soak them for 2-4 hours. Important is to rinse them with boiling water after and to sterilise everything that you will be using in a recipe. This way you have a better control over which bacteria will multiply. After about 12 hours of fermenting, the cream “cheese” will have a slightly tangy taste, similar to the yoghurt you used as a starter.
Our favourite way to eat it is as a bread spread for breakfast, or take it with us on a hike. It tastes really nice paired up with my Cornbread or my Whole Grain Olive Bread.
Fermented Cashew Vegan “Cream Cheese” Spread, 3 Ways
Equipment
- Immersion Blender
Ingredients
Basic recipe:
- 400 g cashews
- 250 g unsweetened soy yogurt with live cultures or add a yogurt starter
For chives variation add:
- 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 4 tablespoons fresh or dried chives or parsley plus a little for garnish
For red pepper variation add:
- 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons sweet red pepper powder plus a little for garnish
- ½ teaspoon red hot pepper powder or more for extra spiciness
For olive variation add:
- ½ teaspoon salt less salt due to the salty olives
- 150 g black olives sliced (keep some for garnish)
Instructions
- Soak the cashews in water overnight or at least for couple of hours.
- In the morning, drain and rinse them well with hot or boiling water.
- Sterilize all the utensils and equipment you will be using by pouring boiling water over them.
- Add the drained cashews and yogurt to a blender or use an immersion blender (make sure to sterilize them beforehand) and blend until you get a creamy texture.
- Transfer the mixture to a sterilized glass container or jars for fermentation.
- Leave it to ferment for 12-14 hours at a temperature of 40 °C.
- The easiest way is to use yogurt maker. As an alternative, use an oven: Preheat the oven to 50 °C and then turn it off. Place the container with the mixture in the turned-off oven and turn on only the light bulb. The heat from the light bulb should maintain a temperature of around 40 °C.
- Once the spread is fermented, add the ingredients from the chosen variation and mix well.
- Pour it into glass containers and store in the refrigerator for 5-7 days.
