SO IT HAPPENED!!

I FINALLY managed to make vegan pizza cheese that is actually SHREDDABLE!

Oh…and did I mention? It’s also oil free AND super tasty!

And it browns and melts like a dream!

Now, I don’t want to hear any guff about the kappa carrageenan, okay? Remember, we’ve had this conversation before.  And the queen of all vegan dairy food, Miyoko Schinner, uses it in all her commercial products and recipes (so if you’ve been eating any of the Miyoko’s Kitchen cheeses, you’ve been ingesting it already). Heck, the Irish even make it into pudding!

About 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 vegan 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!

Shreddable Vegan Pizza Mozzarella

Blend in the Vitamix until smooth:

• 1/2 cup cashews
• 2 cups boiling water
• tsp salt
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour
• 1 TBS miso
• 1 TBS kappa carrageenan (you can add up to 2 TBS if you want it firmer, but it grates just fine with 1 TBS…and kappa is EXPENSIVE!!)
• 1 tsp Knorr Vegetable Broth powder
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder

Blend on high for thirty seconds. Pour the mixture into a saucepan on medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until the mixture becomes smooth and shiny. The tapioca flour will be cooked ONLY when the mixture is shiny.

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!

I actually still have rosemary growing outside…and my oregano is just starting to show new leaves. I did have to use dried basil though.

Pour it into a (very lightly oiled) mold and refrigerate for a couple of hours. Once the cheese firms up, dry off the outside and run it through the food processor with the shredding plate. I just used my little T-Fal Fresh Express, and the cheese shredded beautifully!!

And it browned up very nicely on a succulent vegan pizza this evening….

And the song of the day is Josh Ritter’s “Getting Ready to Get Down” because we’ve been listening to Josh Ritter for two days now–ever since I read this great blog post by another member of the Clean Food, Dirty Girl Facebook group: