My darling niece, Annie, is the queen of commercial vegan cheese: she’s tried them all– Chao, Daiya, Miyoko’s Dairy–you name it, she’s tried it!

She’s also tried my homemade stuff and kindly pronounced it delicious, but when she asked for the recipe, it occurred to me that I could make the process even more straightforward and quick just for her!

And here is all you need!!

About the Coconut Oil

Now there’s no need to freak out over the coconut oil because the four ounces you use will produce a 20-ounce block of cheese, and if you’re like us, you’ll use at most four ounces of vegan mozzarella on a pizza, and that’s only about 200 calories of vegan cheese…on an ENTIRE pizza, so even if you eat half, you’ll have eaten only 100 calories worth of the stuff, and everything else on the pizza is vegetables, so no worries there!

About the Kappa Carrageenan

Carrageenans are food thickeners (used in many commercial foods) derived from red seaweed originally found off the coast of Ireland; there are three types of carrageenan, and kappa carrageenan–the ingredient in this cheese–is one. Carrageenans have been used by European home cooks for centuries; however, recently some concern about the safety of carrageenans has been raised in health food circles. These concerns are NOT related to kappa carrageenan, however. Here’s a 2007 study on the topic!

Kappa carrageenan can be a bit hard to find, however, but it is what gives the cheese its meltable quality. You can find it here on Amazon–it’s a bit pricey, but a little goes a long way!

So…onto the vegan cheese!

First off, I switched from almond milk to cashew milk because you cannot use commercial nut milk for this cheese–it contains too many additives and preservatives, but homemade almond milk is a bit more labour intensive than cashew milk because cashew milk does not need to be strained through a nut-milk bag, while almond milk does.

So first make the cashew milk.

Cashew Milk

The following recipe will make enough milk for a 20-ounce block of mozzarella AND a 20-ounce block of cheddar.

Throw the following in the Vitamix and blend for two minutes on high:

• 1/2 cup cashews
• 2 cups boiling water
• dash of salt

Next, make a block of….

Meltable Vegan Mozzarella

• 1.5 cups cashew milk
• ½ cup refined coconut oil, melted (do not use virgin coconut oil–it will smell)
• 2 tsp salt
• 5 TBS tapioca flour
• 1 TBS kappa carrageenan powder
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

Directions:

• 1 TBS lemon juice

Pour into a mold and refrigerate for several hours.

If you’re using it for pizza, you might want to pulse into the mixture:

• a handful each of fresh basil and fresh oregano
• a sprig of rosemary leaves

Just pulse though or you’ll end up with green cheese!

 

Meltable Vegan Cheddar

• 1.5 cups cashew milk
• ½ cup refined coconut oil, melted (do not use virgin coconut oil–it will smell)
• 1 tsp salt
• 2.5 TBS white miso (you can use brown miso, but the colour of the cheese will be muddier)
• 5 TBS nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 5 TBS tapioca flour
• 1 TBS kappa carrageenan powder
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

Directions:

Process the ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth and creamy.

Transfer to a heavy medium saucepan cook over medium heat, stirring almost constantly with a spatula, until very smooth, thick, gooey, and glossy, 3 to 5 minutes.