Fermented Cream Cheese



Fermented cashew cream cheese moved
to a separate container from the one, where
it was ripening. It looks much smoother than
below after being disturbed with the spoon
(click photo to enlarge)
Fermented Cream Cheese is the base for all products on this site, including Basic Cheese.

INGREDIENTS:

UTENSILS: 
  • blender (better high speed blender like Vita Mix, but any other will do too)
  • cheese mold (which can be just a simple plastic basket for berries from farmers market)
  • cheese cloth
  • a dish/bowl for fermenting blended cashew paste

PREPARATION:

Basic scheme looks like this:

soaking=>blending=>culturing

In details:
1). Soak cashew nuts for 6-10 hours

2). Drain soaking water, discard it or use for blending.  I use new water.

3). Place soaked cashews into the blender and add water up to the half of the soaked nuts volume.
Turn on blender slowly increasing the speed. When it feels like you need more water to keep blender breaking the mass - add some and then more in small portions if needed. Eventually it has to turn into sour cream like smooth paste.



4). Transfer the paste into a separate dish and add a table spoon or two of soy yogurt, which works as a culture.

 5). Cover with a clean towel and place in a warm place.  It takes about 7 hours on a sunny spot in summer or from day and a half to two days in the house during the winter to have the paste fermented. 

The longer it stays - the stronger the acidity.  You can smell nice fermented yogurt like aroma from it.  
If to dig into it with a spoon you will see that it became porous and airy. Don't leave it for more than 2 days not refrigerated.



This cream cheese can be used for making basic cheese, flavored cheeses, cheese cakes, can be used as sour cream, or in different dips.



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