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DIY Vegan Cheese: From Cashews to Cultured Magic

  • Writer: Emanuele Bortolotto
    Emanuele Bortolotto
  • Jul 19
  • 6 min read

Updated: Aug 31


Growing up in my hometown of Torino, Italy, cheese wasn’t just food. It was a culture, a religion, a way of life packed into glorious, funky, aged wheels. It was the sharp bite of a well aged pecorino, the creamy melt of fontina on polenta. So, what happens when you go vegan and the thought of abandoning that heritage feels like a culinary catastrophe?

You don’t give up. You get creative. You become a modern alchemist. 🧪

Because let's be honest, the aisles of store bought vegan cheese can be a barren wasteland of disappointment. For every decent option, there's a sad, waxy block that refuses to melt and tastes faintly of plastic and regret. But making your own DIY vegan cheese? That’s how you reclaim the magic. That’s how you get the sharp, complex tang and the glorious, gooey melt you thought you’d lost forever.

Forget the sad store-bought stuff. We are about to turn a handful of cashews into a block of vegan cheddar so magnificent it would make my nonna proud. This isn’t just a recipe; it's a guide to creating cultured, plant based magic.


Why Bother? A Stand Against Sad Vegan Cheese


Before we dive in, let's pour one out for all the terrible vegan cheese we've endured. The kind that sits on your pizza like a collection of strange, unmelting orange squares. The kind that makes a grilled cheese sandwich taste like a lie.

Making your own is the revolution. You are in complete control. You dictate the sharpness, the creaminess, the funk. It’s a bit of a project, yes, but the payoff is a rich, nuanced cashew cheese that will fundamentally change what you believe is possible with plants.


Meet Your Ingredients: The Alchemist’s Toolkit


Truly great vegan cheese is built with a team of unlikely ingredients, each with a critical role to play in the grand illusion.

  • Raw Cashews (The Creamy Foundation): These are our blank canvas. When soaked and blended, their high fat content and mild flavor create a luxuriously smooth and rich base, the perfect starting point for our creation.

  • Nutritional Yeast (The Cheesy Impersonator): This is the flavor workhorse. "Nooch," as it’s affectionately known, is a deactivated yeast that delivers that savory, nutty, can't-quite-place-it cheesy flavor that is essential to the experience.

  • Miso Paste (The Umami Depth-Charge): To get that aged, fermented complexity, we turn to this Japanese powerhouse. A small amount of light, white miso paste adds a salty, funky background note that tastes like time and wisdom.

  • Probiotic Capsules (The Cultured Magic): This is the secret to authentic tang. We’re not just imitating cheese; we are making a real cultured product. The live bacteria from a simple probiotic capsule will ferment the cashew cream, producing the lactic acid that gives dairy cheese its signature sharp bite. This is actual fermentation. 🪄

  • Kappa Carrageenan (The Melty Master): A seaweed extract that is the key to a firm, sliceable cheese that actually melts into a gooey river of deliciousness when heated. This is non negotiable for a good cheddar or mozzarella style cheese.

  • Tapioca Starch (The Stretch Specialist): While carrageenan provides the melt, tapioca starch provides the stretch. It’s the secret to that satisfying cheese pull on a slice of pizza or a grilled cheese.


The Two Paths of Cashew Alchemy


When it comes to DIY vegan cheese, you have two choices: the simple shortcut or the path of true sorcery.


The Quick & Easy Cheez Sauce (The Uncultured Method)


If you're in a hurry and need a cheese sauce for pasta or nachos right now, you can skip the fermentation. Simply blend soaked cashews with water, nutritional yeast, salt, and a squeeze of lemon juice. It will be creamy and delicious, but it won’t be a firm block of cheddar, nor will it have that deep, cultured flavor. It's a fantastic trick, but it's not the magic we're after today.


The Main Event: True Cultured Vegan Cheddar


This is the real journey. We are using biology and a little kitchen science to build an authentic block of cheese from scratch.


A Step by Step Guide to Cultured Vegan Cheddar 🧀


Patience is a virtue, but every step here is surprisingly simple.


Step 1: The Soak


Place 1.5 cups of raw, unsalted cashews in a bowl. Cover them with boiling water and let them soak for at least 1 hour. If you have more time, soaking in cold water for 4-6 hours is even better. This is crucial for achieving a perfectly smooth, grit free texture. Drain and rinse them thoroughly.


Step 2: The Blend & The Culture


Add your soaked cashews to a high speed blender with about 3/4 cup of fresh water. Blend on the highest setting until it’s completely, utterly smooth. Scrape down the sides to make sure no chunks remain. Now, for the magic: twist open 2 capsules of a vegan probiotic and empty the powder inside into the blender. Give it one last, short blend to incorporate the culture.


Step 3: The Fermentation


Scrape the cashew cream into a clean glass bowl. Cover with a cloth or plastic wrap and leave it in a warm, still place for 24 to 48 hours. A turned-off oven with the light on is perfect. You are now fermenting. The probiotics are eating the sugars in the cashews and creating tangy lactic acid. After a day or two, it will smell pleasantly sour, like yogurt.


Step 4: Adding the Flavor and Structure


Put your tangy, fermented cashew cream back into the clean blender. It's time to transform it. Add:

  • 1/2 cup nutritional yeast

  • 1/4 cup water

  • 2 tablespoons refined coconut oil (for mouthfeel, refined has no coconut taste)

  • 1 tablespoon white miso paste

  • 1.5 teaspoons salt

  • 1 teaspoon onion powder

  • 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

Blend until smooth. Now for the structural components that create the melt and stretch:

  • 3 tablespoons tapioca starch

  • 2 teaspoons kappa carrageenan

Blend these powders in until they are just combined.


Step 5: The Cook & The Set


Pour the mixture into a saucepan and cook it over medium heat, whisking constantly and vigorously. The mixture will start to thicken and become extremely glossy and stretchy. It will pull away from the sides of the pot. This is the starches and carrageenan activating. Keep whisking for a minute or so once it gets thick.

Working quickly, pour the hot cheese into a mold or glass container. Smooth the top and let it cool before placing it in the fridge to set for at least 4 hours.


Troubleshooting Your Creation


  • "My cheese isn't tangy enough." You probably needed to let it ferment longer. Next time, give it another 12 to 24 hours in its warm spot.

  • "My cheese is a puddle." You either used the wrong thickener (agar agar won't melt like this) or you didn't cook the mixture long enough or hot enough to fully activate the kappa carrageenan.

  • "It feels grainy." This is almost always a blending issue. Either the cashews weren't soaked long enough, or your blender isn't quite powerful enough. A high speed blender is a true asset here, useful for more than just cheese. Imagine the silky smooth results in our [Ultimate Green Smoothie Recipe].


How to Use Your Masterpiece


You've done it. You have a block of real, sliceable, melty vegan cheddar. Shred it for tacos, slice it for a sandwich, or create the most legendary grilled cheese of your life. It's a star player on any cheese board, especially when you need to impress your friends.


The Conclusion: A New Tradition


You started with a handful of nuts and a memory of what cheese should be. Through a little patience and a touch of science, you created something that honors that memory. You’ve proven that you don’t have to abandon your culinary heritage—whether it comes from Torino or Turku—to eat with compassion. You just have to be willing to create a little magic of your own. 💪


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