Barb Hodgens
Barb Hodgens

Barb Hodgens loves to cook with alternative, healthy whole food ingredients, with a focus on gut health. Barb has overcome her own gut health issues through healthy eating. Share your ideas, comments and photos at the end of this post :)

cashew cream

Vegan and paleo cream cheese for spreading, dipping and cooking.

Making cashew cream cheese at home is surprisingly easy and with the Vibe Blender System you’ll definitely achieve a smoother and creamier texture in no time at all! Homemade cashew cheese a deliciously creamy vegan and paleo cheese alternative.

You can enjoy this homemade cashew cheese with pretty much anything that calls for a thick creamy cheese. Spread it on your favourite bread or crackers or use it as a dip and dunk veggie sticks in it. It is also delicious cooked, so try it on pizzas, drizzled over potatoes or even added to a salad.

After soaking the cashews to soften, the basic cream cheese recipe can be prepared in minutes. For extra funky cheese tang, follow our simple steps to lacto-ferment it. Fermenting the cashew cream requires only one additional step but a little bit of patience.

cashew cream

Culturing cashew cream at home requires no special equipment at all and is just done by adding in some healthy bacteria then leaving it to multiply in a warm place. We used a vegan yogurt starter culture, but a dairy-free probiotic capsule opened and dispersed into the mixture will work just as well. To kick start the fermentation we added a tiny bit of sugar to give the cultures something to feed on.

Plain cashew cheese tastes lovely but there is no end to the flavour possibilities. Once you have prepared the basic cheese recipe, fermented or not, you can get creative and add in all sorts of fun flavour combinations. Mixing in nutritional yeast is delicious because it adds a distinctly cheesy taste. If you prefer not to use nutritional yeast, garlic powder works well too. Spices and fresh or dried herbs are a fantastic addition to begin experimenting with. It’s even possible to go slightly sweet instead of savory with your add-ins – try dried fruit such as apricot or some crushed nuts. 

cashew cream

Makes 2 jars.

cashew cream cheese steps

cashew cheese

cashew cheese

star

PIN THIS RECIPE

cashew cheese