How
fortunate we all are that Miyoko Schinner is a vegan genius who has delighted
in spending countless hours in the kitchen learning how to duplicate
dairy-based gourmet cheeses. Obviously her endeavors have met with success, and
her new book, ARTISAN VEGAN CHEESE, is her testimony. The latest “VegNews”
magazine issue (Sept. /Oct. 2012) features a gorgeous photo of Ms. Schinner’s
“Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella” vegan cheese on the cover, and beginning on page 64,
you will find a six-page spread featuring photos and recipes of six of the
luscious cheese recipes from her book.
I KNOW that
they are indeed luscious because I have just spent this week making all six
recipes to take to a local vegan Wine & Cheese party. I am so excited about
how they turned out that I am creating a special post highlighting my own
experiences as I worked my way through the six recipes. Although of course I
cannot reprint the recipes themselves (they rightfully belong to Ms. Schinner,
who worked so hard on their creation) I do hope that this blog and my
experiences help to spur you on to buy her book to have on hand whenever you
wish to have homemade gourmet cheeses for that vegan Wine-and-Cheese-tasting
party or just to gift to your favorite vegan friend. You might even want to
start by buying the current newsstand edition of “VegNews”- (“The Cheese Issue”
-Sept. / Oct. 2012) and trying out her recipes. After creating these six
recipes you may be inspired to purchase the book!
The first recipe I tried was FRESH BUFFALO
MOZZARELLA. It used cashews and soy yogurt (“soygurt”) as the two main
ingredients. I had not yet made the Rejuvelac, or sprout-soaking water that is
used in three of the recipes. (Five recipes use either soy yogurt or Rejuvelac
as the culturing medium and the Swiss cheese uses both). Also, all of the
recipes use soaked, drained and blended cashews except for the Swiss cheese,
which uses blanched and soaked almonds for the base. If you can purchase your
raw cashews and almonds in bulk, they will be fresher and so much less
expensive. When I saw the picture of the stacks of fresh Buffalo Mozzarella,
tomato and fresh basil on the cover, I said “Mamma Mia. This has to be the
first cheese to try!”
This is the
only recipe of the six which calls for DRAINING a 24-oz. container of soygurt
for at least 24 hours, until it leaves about a cup of thickened soygurt behind.
I was fortunate the second time I made it because the soygurt was a little
thicker and left behind almost TWO cups of soygurt, yielding almost DOUBLE the
amount of this ambrosial cheese! This is a most fun cheese to work with,
because the last step is to scoop up the hot cheese into balls with an ice
cream scoop (with a releasing mechanism if you have one) and to plunge it into
a bowl of ice water. Thus you end up with fresh Mozzarella balls immersed in
water-filled tubs like the ones you see in delis and gourmet counters of
grocery stores.
While I was soaking the seeds to make the Rejuvelac, I tried
my hand at CREAM CHEESE, which also
did not use Rejuvelac. This proved to be quite easy, though I should warn the
reader to be careful about not letting it age too long. The first time I made
it, the air conditioner was on, and a month later when I made my second batch,
the windows were open in response to the slightly cooler September weather. I
should have made the adjustment and aged it for a shorter time, as it turned
out to be a little “bitey” for cream cheese. However, all was not lost as I
simply turned it into three tasty cream cheese spreads to serve with toasted
bagles: Chipotle, Tuscan Pesto/Olive and Cream Cheese with Dates.
Next I made FROMAGE de
BRIE, a buttery soft French cheese that is good served warm heated in a
baguette. The last stage to this recipe requires air-drying and aging on a wire
rack for a couple of days. Now I was really starting to feel like a “fromagier”
(if there is such a word) with cheeses aging on racks in cottages as I imagine
they might in the French countryside. This is one of the two cheeses (the other
is Cheddar) that can be frozen with good results.
Now my
Rejuvelac was ready and I proceeded with the rest of my cheese-making.
My SHARP CHEDDAR did
not turn out as yellow as the one in the magazine photo, perhaps because I used
the lighter Shiro miso, which I prefer, to the darker brown, saltier miso.
However, the taste was superb and I simply renamed it SHARP WHITE CHEDDAR, reflecting its color. It is excellent served
with autumn red and green apples and grapes.
The SWISS CHEESE looked nothing like the
Swiss cheese I had eaten as a child, but the taste was familiar. I thought
about making little holes in it to remind me of that other dairy cheese, but
when I saw the photo of it on page 67 in VegNews, I realized that theirs didn’t
resemble the holey cheese either! It is good made into sandwiches with Tofurky,
mustard and Veganaise on rye. Next time I will try it on Seitan Reubens as
well.
Last but
not least I attempted the most intriguing-looking cheese of all: AGED CHEVRE WITH HERBES de PROVENCE. Although you can buy pre-made
dried mixtures of Herbes de Provence, I decided to make my own. Different
references list different herbs grown in the Provence
region of Northern France, such as summer
savory, tarragon, fennel seeds, lavender flowers, oregano, basil, rosemary and
thyme. The recipe called for 2 T. of the dried mixture. I settled for the
following six herbs, so that I would use 1 t. of each to create 2 T. of the mix:
rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, fennel seeds and lavender flowers. The lavender
was the most unusual ingredient to me and I knew of a local natural foods store
that carried it in bulk. After the initial aging step, the Chevre is rolled in
the herbs and sea salt and allowed to air dry on a wire rack for 2 to 4 days.
The end result is absolutely gorgeous, and can be served with fruit for an
exotic dessert.
FURTHER NOTES ON CHEESE INGREDIENTS:
Rejuvelac was commonly made and drunk in
the 1970’s, after the recipe appeared in Victor Kulvinskas’s book, SURVIVAL
INTO THE 21ST CENTURY. It contains healthy enzymes and non-dairy probiotics.
The same can be said for Soy yogurt
(“soygurt”).
“Telephone”-brand
is one of the best forms of Agar powder on
the market and is available in Asian stores. It is made without additives and
comes in little packets. It is usually the least expensive way to purchase it.
Tapioca starch, Miso and Umeboshi Paste can
also be found inexpensively in Asian stores.
Nutritional yeast is found in natural
foods stores and co-ops, usually in bulk.
I hope that
this blog inspires you to reach for new vegan heights, perhaps inspiring
vegetarian friends to give up dairy after tasting these artisan vegan cheeses.
Here’s a link to the VegNews website: http://vegnews.com/pages/page.do?pageId=3
And here’s a link to Miyoko Schinner’s website: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1570672830/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_alp_Wj5xqb1YRDXDZ
And here’s a link to my website:
