Is Making Vegan Cheese Worth the Effort?

I started 2020 with a desire to figure out how to make vegan cheese that was at least a reasonable facsimile of cheese. 

Over the past few years, I have bought some commercial vegan cheeses, but I found them too fatty and/or oily for my taste. I wanted to find a viable option but didn't. I tried to figure out how I could use some of them to inspire recipes to make my own.

I have tried to make a wide variety of vegan cheese recipes I found on the internet since becoming vegan but usually find them lacking in some way or the other. I've also discovered that often when I find one that works well once, replicating the success doesn't go as well. I have come to believe this might be more because of the novelty of the first attempt more so than an actual successful first attempt.

Expectations might be part of the problem. By that I mean I want the flavor without the fat or the salt. And that becomes a tall order. Yet, I like the idea of vegan cheese for pizza, lasagna, and a few other dishes I want to make.

I turned to cookbooks. I bought three in 2020 to get started: One Hour Dairy Free Cheese: Make Mozzarella, Cheddar, Feta, and Brie-Style Cheeses --Using Nuts, Seeds, and Vegetables by Claudia Lucero, Artisan Vegan Cheese by Miyoko Schinner, and Vegan Cheese: Simple, Delicious, Plant-based Recipes by Jules Aron. They were all interesting reads and contain some interesting recipes, many of which I will never try, but some of which I have tried and others I would like to try at some point. Some of which I believe I can use to inspire recipes that will actually work for me.

The other part of the problem for me in creating a line of cheese recipes is that I don't have a big desire to eat cheese anymore, so my motivation is weak. Perhaps, I'll eventually come up with a few recipes that work make some decent substitutes for the cheeses used in myriad recipes I want to make. The recipes I share should reflect the food I eat, so cheese has slipped down my list in priorities. 

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