Cashew Cheese
Cashew Cheese
At Anamaya I felt personally taken care of as a lactose-free eater, as they don’t serve of cook with dairy products at all, aside from optional butter they put out for the daily delicious selection of healthy baked goods. All cheese products at the resort are goat’s so free range for me! Aside from my personal inherent attachment to cheese, as I have always been a huge cheese fan, I was particularly warmed at the sight of goats cheese in the lunch layout, bringing me back to fond memories of learning to milk in the early mornings at the farm. The Mamma Goat that helped me learn to milk was actually pregnant as I arrived at the farm, and gave birth to two beautiful little kids on my very first day back on the farm after my month doing my Teacher’s Training at the resort. Call it far out, but I felt a connection to the birthing of the kids on this particular day, as the beginning of a new chapter for my post-training self. The names of the kid’s is still yet to be settled on, but I heard as of yesterday that it had been narrowed down to a selection put forth by Geoffs young daughters who suggested ‘J Lo’ ‘Shakira’ and ‘Beyonce’. I love cheese, sue me. It was originally fairly catastrophic when I was first diagnosed as lactose intolerant, but am always keen to learn about delicious dairy substitutes that are healthier for my mind and body. On the farm I got pretty into making the goats cheese and flavoring it with our fresh purple basil, oregano and salt and pepper which became a favorite of mine. Another type of cheese I experimented with was cashew, I am forever expanding my lactose-free pallet.
Some day in the near future the farm will be producing its own cashews from the trees that have been planted! Spurred on by this incentive I branched out of my culinary comfort zone, and was delightedly surprised. Before now, although I have explored nuts as an animal product substitute in my milk for quite some time, as a bit of a snob when it comes to cheese I had always turned my nose up at the thought of cheeses made from nuts. I even found comedy out of those poor vegan souls at Christmas who at nut roast next to my filet mignon. I hereforth announce a disclaimer; there is much beauty to be found in nuts beyond snacks, protein balls and milk. Nut cheese has proved a delightful protein accompaniment to our salads on the farm and we grow cashew trees!
Prep Time:
Soak 1 cup of cashews for at least 6 hours
Mix in blender with ¾ cup of water
3 Tbsp lime, lemon or apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove
1 tsp honey
When smooth enough, remove from blender before it loses too much density – remember it is cheese! Add salt and pepper to taste and honey to remove some of the citric sharpness. I found it to be somewhere in-between the likeness to cheese that I identify with more instinctively, and a hummus or tahini vibe. It was super delicious in a superfood chopped salad with lots of grated raw beat root that I made for lunch.
