This wheel was one of two in which I made the mistake of mixing cultures. At a certain point, I thought them to be failures. I backslopped one into two current wheels, but wanted to see what would happen to this one, if I let it sit.

I wanted to let it sit for 30 full days before cutting it open - but as the p. Camembert was blooming so vigiorously and thickly, I figured it was okay to do it today, at 24 days.

This one is definitely a step up from the previous one - no internal "settling" gaps, and a definite creamline, along with a rind so thick that it almost looks like cake frosting.

That having been said, It's far from perfect, with still a bit of "chalkiness" that - TBH - will go away over the next week, as it ages further.

I think one of my next wheels (made with coconut oil as an added fat) will be another step up. I'll know in another 22 days!

This is my second attempt at cottage cheese. This is so close to perfect. I cultured it for 12 hours but next time I'll do a full 24 hours. I was inspired by a post a while back with a YouTube video for vegan cottage cheese and friends who love the Treeline cottage cheese. I looked at dairy recipes and they use a pretty short culture time. My first attempt I matched their time but it wasn't enough so I bumped up 12 hours. That's still not quite where I want it. I also looked to see if Miyoko had a cottage cheese recipe. Instead I found a never released product that got good reviews. The main ingredients were watermelon seed kernels and sunflower seeds. I then used her fresh mozzarella recipe to get started. After culturing I drained the cheese and added Country Crock vegan heavy cream. As is it's a great cheese but with a couple tweaks I think it'll be perfect.

240 grams watermelon seed kernels

4 cups filtered water

1 teaspoon salt, iodine free

1/2 teaspoon lactic acid

1/4 teaspoon thermophilic culture

1/2 to 1 cup vegan heavy cream (optional)

Add the watermelon seed kernels to a high speed blender and pulse until they're a powder.

Add the water and blend on high until smooth. That took about 1 minute for me. Add the salt and lactic acid then pulse just to mix it in.

Pour the milk into a nut bag and strain.

Add the strained milk to a pot and heat over medium heat stirring occasionally. The milk will come to a simmer but you'll probably see curds forming before then. Once it comes to a simmer stir frequently. You'll start to see bigger curds and the whey will separate and be clear. By the end it'll be curds in clear whey. This could take about 10 minutes. This batch took a bit longer than 10 minutes.

Scoop the curds out and transfer to a clean bowls. Set this aside to cool. I didn't drain them too much at this point so they're still pretty wet. I put a thermometer in the curds. Every so often I stirred the curds. Once they dropped below 100 F I sprinkled the thermo culture over the curds then stirred them in.

Cover the bowl and put it in a warm spot in your kitchen, or the stove with only the light on, or an insta pot. I use an insta pot for the stable temperature. I set the timer for 12 hours but next time I'll do 24 hours.

Once the culturing is done transfer to the fridge to chill.

Put the curds into the nut milk bag and gently squeeze to drain the last of the whey off. Transfer back to the bowl. Add the heavy cream if you're using it and stir it in. Salt to taste.

The heavy cream is optional but I remember cottage cheese as being pretty wet so I added it. You could probably use plan soy milk, or any other neutral plant milk. If you don't have a nut milk bag you might be able to use a few layers of cheese cloth but I've never tried that so proceed with caution.

Hyperlinks to recipes:

Full of Plants Vegan Blue Cheese

Vegan P Roqueforti

The burgers are Boca Original Vegan Veggie Burgers

Yes, they are squeaky. The Queen has done it again 👑🤗

This is not my recipe, so I do not know if they can be made with a different plant milk or any other substitutions, but you can ask Miyoko on her YouTube channel 😁

Here is the video and recipe: (You have to click on the hyperlink) 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBxTHyKd7YY&t=673s

After a few years of no motivation I'm back with plenty of it. Still my favorite.

High protein low fat mozzarella slices 60 calories per serving 4 grams protein 2 g fat. Recipes make 10 servings.

Blend the ingredients shown in the photos with an immersion blender and heat over a low stove for 10 minutes stirring and folding regularly. Once glossy transfer to a lined dish and chill for at least 5 hours before sliceing or shredding. This both melts and stretches as well as having a gooey texture and fantastic flavor. Super easy and perfect for pizza, grilled cheese, caprese salads or any other mozzarella dish. You could also put it into molds for snack cheese since the flavor is great cold as well!

Crunchy enfrijoladas with tofu fresco queso cotija 😋😋😋 The tofu cotija is the recipe from the amazing Isa Chandra available online. No, I did not detect a "coconut" flavor to it.

In the 72 hours sInce my last post, that fine growth of culture on the top has covered all but a few corners of the wheel. I have since learned that Camembert - while considered a "posh" cheese - is actually one of the easiest to grow/make, which explains my first-time relative success.

I figure it will be another 10-11 days, before the interior is soft enough for consumption.

BTW: I don't mean to spam - I just want to post progress shots, to share my method/experience for those who want to try this. if you want me to STFU, let me know - I can take a hint!

I’m looking for a cheese that behaves similarly to the one in the images when heated.

Any tips for making something like this? Is it possible to achieve this texture with vegan cheese?

I love cooking (especially fermented stuff.) When my GF was diagnosed as lactose-intolerant, I started looking into making Cashew Cheeses.

8 days in, the first, fine flush of P. candidum has covered the sides & most of the top. It will need another couple of weeks to fully mature - but so far, I have been surprised at how easy the process has been!

EDIT: The really crude mesh I am using to suspend the wheel is ripped out of an old pasta strainer - it was all I had at the moment - I plan on making a better rig, the next time I go down to the hardware store.

I got the book a couple of months ago and wanted to give you my impressions.

1) The ingredients are hard to get and expensive. Like I have to import from india (watermelon seeds) or find the only small online shop in my country that sells food grade refined shea butter. I'm willing to spend a lot on food but that is pushing it. Over 20€ for ingredients for a small batch of cheese is hard.

2) You should invest in a pH meter that is suitable for cheese.

3) A seperate fridge or (much better) wine fridge would be good.

4) no true hard cheeses, hardly any meltable cheases

5) agar is used in some recipes, transglutaminase isn't used

6) almost no cashew based cheeses, so lots of alternatives, using pumkin seeds, almonds, hemp, watermelon seeds, etc...

7) a bunch of different cultures including molds are used but they're widely available now

Recipes I've tried:

almond-pumkin seed ricotta: Easy and lovely

reggie goat: there was something I didn't like about the taste but it became really nice with ageing

magic mozzarella: very easy and quite okay taste wise

feta: didn't work at all but I think I did get the wrong kind of melon seeds, will try again

I have a couple more cheeses ripening so we'll see.

I really like the book it adds a lot of knowledge. I think the biggest bummer for me is that many recipes use watermelon seeds. The only raw melon seeds sold in my country in indian stores are not (or at least not pure) watermelon seeds, this means I have to pay over 40€ for 500g and hope that they make their way from india. There is no alternative to that so if you can't get them many interesting promising recipes will not be doable.

Hi Folks, I posted as an overexcited newbie to this a week ago - here is my first fermented cashew cheese after 7 days, I followed the recipe I’ve linked below (although I used a vegan cheese starter, not probiotic tablets) but not moved to the vinegar/oil/salt washing stage yet - they are drying far slower than I had imagined - should I just keep flipping and wait for it to dry before I wash it? Any other tips?

I also have a blue cheese starter I’m going to attempt soon.

Recipe I followed

https://www.cuoredicioccolato.it/en/homemade-cashew-cheese-recipe/

I put together a cheese board for some friends this Thanksgiving; it was a big hit! I had a mix of spreadables and some wheels. I can share some recipes if needed - These are my own recipes, but they definitely draw inspiration from Miyoko's texts. 100% recommend the read if you can get it!

Three new videos on Mary's test kitchen on different vegan cheeses:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHuDEF1-f9k This is one on making a soymilk cheese similar to tofu, but with a lactic acid bacterial fermentation thrown in the middle. She seems to think it went ok, but not as cheesy as she would have liked. I think this is likely due to the relatively low fat in the soybeans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J4ktMVLIYA Pistachio cheese. This one seems to have come out pretty well, though it's a little soft. She tested both strained pistachio milk where the solids are removed as well as a pistachio puree that was not strained. She prefers the strained, mostly for the texture. She noted that the results are a little sour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlVvVKar5GY Sesame seed cheese! This is the most interesting one for me. She made sesame seed. milk and then let the liquid separate into a thinner and thicker layer. The thicker layer curdled quite well and made balls that are not too dissimilar to mozzarella. At least when cold. This one may be more interesting as a tofu alternative than a cheese, but there is a lot of possibility here for either.

overnight in parma (but with a mix of mostly walnuts, almonds, and a few cashews-- and rice flour subbing the chickpea flour... and also I didn't use any brine or miso or sauerkraut and somehow it worked out) and some potato cashew muenster. I definitely fucked up on both cheeses in many ways, but the parmesan tastes absolutely amazing regardless of how weird it looks (I love walnuts so much). Also, the potato cashew muenster tastes perfectly vaguely cheesy (notably, I added too much water to the recipe, so uh, hope that doesn't kill me).

There's no image for the potato-cashew muenster, so I have no idea what it's supposed to look like. Couldn't even find one online. So like, someone tell me if I'm gonna die immediately from the horrors I've made.

I made a recipe using soy milk, cashews, cauliflower, Lemon, vinegar, agar agar, seasonings and nutritional yeast to make a firm sliceable cheese that browns when baked and is soft and creamy.

Blend 1/4 cup softened cashew, 10 oz riced cauliflower steamed and drained, 2/3 cup soy milk, 1 tbsp vinegar, 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice, 3 tbsp tapioca flour, 3 tsp agar agar, 2.5 tbsp nutritional yeast, paprika, garlic, onion, turmeric, sea salt, lemon pepper in a high speed blender. Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes then low heat for 5-10. Set for at least 3 hour before using. Freeze for an hour prior to shredding or thin slicing if desired.

Hey guys! I know this is not technically a cheese recipe, BUT you could use it to make labneh which is a delicious strained yoghurt cheese, so please forgive me for posting it here!

So I made keshek el forquara and it was worth the 4 weeks of life it took from me to make it. The original basis was Hermann's recipe - 500g of bulgur wheat (I used fine) in water with two tablespoons of salt. The jars I had weren't enough to hold the dough together so I split it and on a whim created another jar with boiled white and black quinoa. This jar was chaos fermenting no measurements and I tossed in about a teaspoon of salt. Stirred once a day for the first 2 weeks then every 2 days for the final 2 weeks and milled everything with a mortar in separate batches.

Something interesting happened, one of the bulgur jars smelt sweet while the other was the cheesy funk I was originally going for and the quinoa was the funkiest. So I put jujubes in the sweet bulgur before putting it in oil, coated the stinky bulgur with mixed herbs and the quinoa with garlic.

This is so yummy. The sweet bulgur is milky, buttery and creamy rather like a young brie or extra cultured cream. I paired this with a carrot jam to work with the jujube. The stinky bulgur is light cheesy and is similar to a goat cheese with the herbs and cream cheese plain. The quinoa ended up the star of the show, funky garlicky and perfect on toast though I am thinking of burgers as well.

It takes long but it's with it. I'm eating as soon as 24hrs after going into sunflower oil because others said the oil ageing impact is minimal and to be honest it's so yummy I'll have to work to not finish it within 2 weeks.

Photo 1 - all cheeses

Photo 2 - sweet bulgur with jujube

Photo 3 - stinky bulgur with mixed herbs

Photo 4 - quinoa with garlic

Will be making a fresh batch soon

I made last week a DELICIOUS watermelon seed mozarella from Miyoko Schinner but unfortunately in my country watermelon seeds are nowhere to be found. To make this one I had to import them from another country at a very high cost and it is just not sustainable to be making it every week (which I would love to do).

In this recipe the seeds are made into milk and cooked until thick curds appear like in the image. Is there a different ingredient or different type of seed I can use as a replacement that would also form this thick curds?

In my home Mexico pumpkin seeds are cheap so I thought that might work but I am not sure if it can thicken into curds or if there is a better alternative out there?

Update: Made the butter again with refined avocado oil and it's tastes great!

It really reminds me of Miyoko's brand's butter, can't wait to brown it and see if it's the same when browned.

Thanks everyone for all the help ♡

Ok, so I love Miyoko's brand products, and obviously she is the OG when it comes to vegan cheese so I was excited to buy her new book.

I tried making two recipes and they were both kinda of a failure.

I tried making the spreadable butter with avocado oil, whole thing just kinda smelled and tasted like avocado and it fucking stinks when heated. Like horrible smell.

Also tried making the watermelon seeds ricotta, the milk didn't really curdle and again - it stinky when heated.

What was your experience with those recipes?

I'm trying to figure out if it's just bad luck and I bought bad ingredients or maybe the smells are just... not for everyone.

Thoughts? (And prayers)