Cashew and Soya "Cheese" Roule- vegan

Looking good on the cheeseboard...

...makes a yummy vegan snack with wholewheat crackers and olives- or you could  serve it with raw crackers

The scientific approach to food triumphs yet again- and this time brings us a "live", probiotic vegan "cheese" that tastes a bit like a tangy goats' cheese and is good enough to grace any cheeseboard. It's a To our knowledge, you can't buy anything like this in the shops yet. Even the non-vegan members of our family enjoyed this on crackers along with their regular dairy cheese. It's actually really easy to make, and you don't need a dehydrator as long as you have a warm place for the "cheese" to culture. A food processor, grinder or blender for the nuts would help, though, unless you use ground almonds. If there is any drawback to this vegan cheese, it's that it does become sharper the longer it's kept- 3-4 days is probably its lifespan unless you want it really sour. This recipe makes enough to leave some plain and make the rest into an attractive "roule"-type cheese, so you may need to halve the quantities if you cannot eat it all within a few days.

300g cashews

240ml unsweetened soya milk

2 level tsps probiotic powder (a supplement available from health food stores or online) 

a pinch of seasalt

dried basil and/or oregano

coarse seasalt

coarse black pepper

(or some sweet or hot smoked paprika)

• Grind the nuts in your food processor until they resemble a fine flour, but have not yet turned into a nut butter.
• Drizzle in the soya milk gradually, stopping when the mixture resembles a thick cream.
• Now stir in the probiotic powder.
• Put into a container with a loose-fitting lid and leave in a warm place or dehydrate at 43C for about 24 hours.
• Stir in the pinch of salt and leave to firm up in the fridge.
• At this point you can shape it into a roll and coat the outside in herbs, salt and pepper to your own taste; you could even try smoked paprika.

For another nut cheese, see here