Pistachio Nut Cheese Recipe - Quick, Vegan and Dairy-free (2024)

FAQs

Why is vegan cheese so creamy? ›

Yukon gold potatoes and cashews – They're the key ingredients for giving vegan cheese recipes oozy, creamy texture.

Roasted Pistachios (Unsalted, In Shell)

A primary reason that pistachios make fantastic vegan snacks is that they provide 6 grams of protein per serving. Pistachios are considered a high-quality plant-based protein source because they provide balanced levels of amino acids.

Nuts and seeds are used to make some artisan vegan cheeses. Flavors vary. Some vegan cheeses made to taste like the real thing, including varieties like camembert, brie, gouda, and pepperjack. Aged nut cheeses may be made with vegan prebiotics, which helps it ferment and makes it taste tangy.

Vegan cheese is a non-dairy alternative to cheese, usually made from plant-based proteins and fats. Most vegan cheeses you'll find on the market or on vegan recipe blogs are typically made from some combination of: Soy. Tree nuts and seeds (cashew in particular is a big time ingredient in vegan cheese)

Vegan cheese can be made with components derived from vegetables, such as proteins, fats and milks (plant milks). It also can be made from seeds, such as sesame, sunflower, nuts (cashew, pine nut, peanuts, almond) and soybeans; other ingredients are coconut oil, nutritional yeast, tapioca, rice, potatoes and spices.

Vegan cheeses often contain unhealthy starches and vegetable oils that the body converts to sugar, causing weight gain and uncomfortable bloating – the exact symptoms we are trying to avoid!

Since pistachios contain fructans, eating too many of them can cause bloating, nausea or abdominal pain.

Eating 28 grams of pistachios per day can help you lose weight. The presence of fibre and protein in pistachios keeps you full for a long time and therefore prevents hunger pangs.

Cashews are very popular with those who live a vegan lifestyle as their creaminess makes them a great dairy substitute and welcome addition to vegan cooking.

Cheeze is also often use to refer to vegan cheese, or a cheese-like substance made without dairy.

What makes vegan cheese taste like cheese? ›

Nuts, such as cashews or almonds, are often used as they contain a lot of natural fat that gives a creamy texture once blended. Many brands also use a vegan lactic acid to add the tang and umami that gives that quintessential cheese flavour.

Vegan cheeses are 100% animal-free and made using vegetable proteins. Usually, they're made from soy; nuts, such as cashews and macadamias; and vegetable oils, such as coconut oil. You can also find cheeses that derive from agar, tapioca, peas and arrowroot.

It's important to understand that vegan cheese, being made with different ingredients, typically does not taste exactly like traditional dairy cheese. However, it does replicate some of the flavors and textures that you might remember from dairy cheese and tastes great in its own right.

The main ingredients in many vegan cheeses are starch and vegetable oils – usually coconut oil, or sometimes palm oil. Starch and oil may give vegan cheeses their texture, but they are of little nutritional value.

As explained by WIRED, casein, which is found in the milk of all animals but nowhere else, is responsible for real cheese's meltiness. As such, most vegan iterations just can't capture the magic that casein lends to cheese.

Tapioca starch: Tapioca starch is commonly used in vegan cheese because it creates a stretchy, cheese-like texture. Arrowroot starch: Arrowroot starch is often used as a thickener in vegan cheese, as it creates a smooth, creamy texture.