Fermented Nut Cheese Vegan Plant Based Paleo Gaps Keto Low Carb Whole30 Probiotics Recipes

FERMENTED NUT CHEESE - VEGAN, PLANT BASED, PALEO, GAPS, KETO, LOW CARB, WHOLE30, PROBIOTICS

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients in high-powered blender. Purée for about 50 seconds, until the mixture is smooth. Add a small amount of water, fermented vegetables, or olive oil if the mixture is too thick to blend (and process again).
• Pour the contents into a glass container that will hold almost twice the volume of what you've just produced. The low wide storage glass jars that come with their own rubber fitted lids work great. (Four-cup ball jars also work well for most of these recipes. But the wide mouth is important unless you have a really runny cheese. You don't want the mixture smeared on the sides of the jar.) Once you've poured your cheese mixture in, depending on its lid type, do not seal the jar. You can loosely screw on a metal lid, (or the ring and insert), or cover certain kinds of glass jars with the rubber lids that they came with.
• Place the jar in a warm place (like the top of your dehydrator while it is running) for about a day and a half. The ferment will take longer in colder temperatures. Your nut cheese is fermented and ready to eat when the whole purée has risen and is filled with lots of air bubbles, like a sponge, but yummy looking. At this point, put the cheese into your fridge so it can chill and firm up.
• OPTIONAL FURTHER STEP- If you wish to dehydrate or chill your ferment to create a shaped, sliceable cheese, choose a "mold"; a small low bowl works great. Teeny dishes are fun too, if you want to make lots of individual cheeses.
• For the dehydrator method, line the small bowl or bowls with cheesecloth and spray the cheesecloth with coconut oil spray or just rub the cloth with olive oil. (I learned this method the hard way! The oil will prevent the dried cheese from sticking to the cloth. You want the cloth to peel away easily so that the outer rind looks pristine.)
• Place the bowl(s) into your dehydrator for about 12 hours, or up to 24 hours, until they can easily hold their own shape. Pop the cheese out of the bowl it was nesting in and peel off the cloth. Touch the exterior, gently pushing on the cheese, to decide if you want it even firmer, or very soft inside. If you want to get a more sliceable cheese, place your wheel back into the dehydrator by itself now, no bowl, no cloth, and continue to dehydrate it another 12-24 hours. When it's done to your satisfaction, place it in the fridge to chill.
• OPTIONAL FURTHER STEP ALTERNATIVE- If you don't have a dehydrator, you may want to strain your cheese before fermenting it; so think ahead. Here's the method: Put the fresh pureée in a cheesecloth-lined colander; it can actually ferment like that, wrapped in the cloth (covered with the flaps), and set inside an appropriately sized bowl to catch the drips, and set in a warm place! Make sure, with this method, to include coconut oil or coconut cream in your recipe so that when it chills, it firms up.
• Once the recipe is fermented in the cheesecloth strainer, proceed as described above, placing it in a "mold" lined with cheesecloth, unsprayed this time, but olive oil is okay. Press the cheese into the bowl's shape, smoothing the top, which will become the bottom, with a spatula, and chill for 6 hours or more. Unmold it onto a plate. Alternately, shape and roll the soft, drained cheese into a traditional log shape, as you've seen done with many goat cheeses.
• Garnish any cheese with a drizzle of oil, small, fresh, edible flowers, coarsely ground black, green or pink peppercorns, or fresh or dried herbs. Choose garnishes that will compliment the recipe you chose.