Sun Dried Tomato Basil Nut Cheese

If you’re enjoying the raw vegan life you’ve probably experienced some profound health benefits, many of which can be attributed to the elimination of dairy. That being said, cheese can be a hard food to kick for many! Don’t despair, you can actually make healthy, dairy-free cheese that tastes incredible right in your own kitchen simply with a blender. Learn how to make a tasty sun dried tomato and basil infused nut cheese with this easy recipe by Joelle Amiot of jarOhoney. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 cup rough chopped whole raw organic hazelnuts
• 2 cups rough chopped whole raw organic cashews
• 6 cups cold filtered water
• 3/4 cups raw organic apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup cold filtered water
• 1 large organic lemon, zest and juice, reserve both
• 3 ounces un-sulfered organic sun dried tomatoes, rough chop
• 1/4 cup rough chopped fresh organic basil leaves
• 1 tsp fresh ground pink salt
• 3 layers of cheese cloth about 8 inches long
• large rubber band
• twist tie
• chop sticks
• deep container to hang the cheese ball from (read further)

Instructions

1. In a medium mixing bowl, add in your chopped nuts and the 6 cups of water, soak for 24 hours.

2. In your blender, add the soaked nuts and chop until fine. Add the cider vinegar and the 1 cup water slowly while blending on high. Be sure to blend to a creamy paste. Now add the lemon zest, juice, sun dried tomatoes, basil and pink salt, mix well.

3. Open up and then layer your cheese cloth together on top of each other. Spoon in the cheese into the center. Gather the sides of your cheese cloth up to make a pouch over the cheese and twist tie the top that is gathered tightly to the cheese but do not squeeze. Place the chop sticks on either side of the gather at the twist tie and rubber band it together so you can hang it.

4. Find a container to suspend the cheese ball from to allow it to drain. It needs to be at least 2 inches deeper that the cheese ball. Suspend it using the chop sticks as it’s support across the opening of your container. Hang for 48 hours, drain the container if need be.

5. Gently unwrap your cheese and and place in a sealable container in the refrigerator up to 1 week.

Notes

A CHEF’S TIP: ALWAYS use WHOLE-RAW-ORGANIC nuts when you make your cheese. These will be the highest quality of nuts you can buy thus making the highest quality and best tasting cheese you can make.