Vegan cheese is rapidly growing in popularity all over the world. You can buy it in supermarkets, order it in restaurants, or you can very easily make if yourself at home. This sunflower seed vegan cheese recipe will teach you how to do just that.
You can make vegan cheese with all sorts of ingredients. Most of the products you’ll find in supermarkets use coconut oil as a base, as this allows them to melt in a similar way to cheese. Vegan cheeses can also be made from a variety of nuts and seeds. The below recipe, which comes from The Garden Party’s Rachel Steenland, uses both sunflower seeds and coconut oil.
Other ingredients this recipe uses include nutritional yeast, which gives it a cheesy flavor, lemon juice, miso paste, and garlic powder. Here’s how to make it:
Sunflower seed cheese
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw sunflower seeds, soaked
- 1/4 cup refined coconut oil
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 tsp white miso paste
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- Salt & pepper
Add-ins and garnish
- Freshly cracked pepper, chili peppers, dried herbs
- Fresh herbs, i.e. thyme, chives
- Lemon zest
- Edible flowers
- Dried fruit i.e dried cranberries
- Roasted nuts & seeds i.e. walnuts, pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Cover the sunflower seeds with water and soak overnight in the fridge.
- Drain the sunflower seeds well and discard the water.
- Add soaked sunflower seeds, refined coconut oil, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, white miso paste, garlic powder and salt and pepper to the blender.
- Blend until the mixture is completely smooth and velvety.
- Cut the cheesecloth into three 20″ x 20″ squares.
- Add the desired garnishes to the cheesecloth.
- Divide the cheese into three equal size portions.
- Shape into either a round or log shape and then add to the cheesecloth.
- Wrap the cheese tightly with the cheesecloth, and seal with a rubber band or clip to hold the cheesecloth closed.
- Add the wrapped cheeses to an airtight container and store in the fridge overnight to allow it to harden.
- Serve with crackers, vegetables or on a bagel and enjoy.
This recipe was republished with permission from Rachel Steenland (owner of The Garden Party).