Fermented Cashew Vegan "Cream Cheese" Spread, 3 Ways
When your heart (or your tummy ;)) craves a good slice of bread, coated with a salty, slightly tangy, and creamy spread, with this recipe you won't be disappointed. This delicious spread is packed with plant-based proteins, minerals, and vitamins, plus fermentation will help your body make the most of them.
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.
Tips and Info
On soy yogurt ingredient list you should find only soy, water and live active cultures. If there are no live cultures, you must add a yogurt starter or fermentation will not occur.