Aged Macadamia Cheeze
I used to sit down and eat a whole wheel of camembert cheese watching telly. I never thought I could live without cheese, but it turns out you don’t have to. This recipe is a great alternative for dairy cheese, minus the animal cruelty. It’s also a great base to add your own flair to. Roll it in cracked pepper, add any herbs and flavouring you like and you’ve got yourself your very own cheezy creation.
310 g (11 oz/2 cups) activated macadamia nuts
1 teaspoon probiotic powder
¼ teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
310 ml (10¾ fl oz/1¼ cups) filtered alkaline water
- Blend all the ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth, using a tamper to push the mixture onto the blades, as it will be very thick.
- Line a fine-meshed sieve with muslin (cheesecloth), then place it over a bowl, to catch the whey during the fermentation process. Pour the cheeze mixture into the sieve.
- Fold the excess cheesecloth in on itself, so it covers the top of the cheeze. Place some nuts or seeds in a glass jar and use it as a weight to gently press on top of the cheesecloth. Leave to ferment in a warm place for 24 hours.
- Once fermented, transfer to a 10 cm (4 inch) round spring-form tin lined with plastic wrap. (You can save the nutritious whey to add to your smoothies.)
- Place the tin of cheeze into the freezer to firm up for about 1 hour.
- Remove the cheeze wheel from the tin and place on a dehydrator tray.
- Dehydrate at 40°C (105°F) for 12 hours, or until a ‘skin’ forms on the outside. (If you don’t have a dehydrator, place the cheeze on a baking tray and leave in the oven on its lowest setting, with the door slightly ajar, for 2 hours.)
- The cheeze will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 7 days, and will continue to ferment slowly.