Sunday, September 23, 2012

SPECIAL POST: MIYOKO SCHINNER’S VEGAN ARTISAN CHEESES




             How fortunate we all are that Miyoko Schinner is a vegan genius who has delighted in spending countless hours in the kitchen learning how to duplicate dairy-based gourmet cheeses. Obviously her endeavors have met with success, and her new book, ARTISAN VEGAN CHEESE, is her testimony. The latest “VegNews” magazine issue (Sept. /Oct. 2012) features a gorgeous photo of Ms. Schinner’s “Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella” vegan cheese on the cover, and beginning on page 64, you will find a six-page spread featuring photos and recipes of six of the luscious cheese recipes from her book.
            I KNOW that they are indeed luscious because I have just spent this week making all six recipes to take to a local vegan Wine & Cheese party. I am so excited about how they turned out that I am creating a special post highlighting my own experiences as I worked my way through the six recipes. Although of course I cannot reprint the recipes themselves (they rightfully belong to Ms. Schinner, who worked so hard on their creation) I do hope that this blog and my experiences help to spur you on to buy her book to have on hand whenever you wish to have homemade gourmet cheeses for that vegan Wine-and-Cheese-tasting party or just to gift to your favorite vegan friend. You might even want to start by buying the current newsstand edition of “VegNews”- (“The Cheese Issue” -Sept. / Oct. 2012) and trying out her recipes. After creating these six recipes you may be inspired to purchase the book!

 
            The first recipe I tried was FRESH BUFFALO MOZZARELLA. It used cashews and soy yogurt (“soygurt”) as the two main ingredients. I had not yet made the Rejuvelac, or sprout-soaking water that is used in three of the recipes. (Five recipes use either soy yogurt or Rejuvelac as the culturing medium and the Swiss cheese uses both). Also, all of the recipes use soaked, drained and blended cashews except for the Swiss cheese, which uses blanched and soaked almonds for the base. If you can purchase your raw cashews and almonds in bulk, they will be fresher and so much less expensive. When I saw the picture of the stacks of fresh Buffalo Mozzarella, tomato and fresh basil on the cover, I said “Mamma Mia. This has to be the first cheese to try!”
            This is the only recipe of the six which calls for DRAINING a 24-oz. container of soygurt for at least 24 hours, until it leaves about a cup of thickened soygurt behind. I was fortunate the second time I made it because the soygurt was a little thicker and left behind almost TWO cups of soygurt, yielding almost DOUBLE the amount of this ambrosial cheese! This is a most fun cheese to work with, because the last step is to scoop up the hot cheese into balls with an ice cream scoop (with a releasing mechanism if you have one) and to plunge it into a bowl of ice water. Thus you end up with fresh Mozzarella balls immersed in water-filled tubs like the ones you see in delis and gourmet counters of grocery stores.
           

While I was soaking the seeds to make the Rejuvelac, I tried my hand at CREAM CHEESE, which also did not use Rejuvelac. This proved to be quite easy, though I should warn the reader to be careful about not letting it age too long. The first time I made it, the air conditioner was on, and a month later when I made my second batch, the windows were open in response to the slightly cooler September weather. I should have made the adjustment and aged it for a shorter time, as it turned out to be a little “bitey” for cream cheese. However, all was not lost as I simply turned it into three tasty cream cheese spreads to serve with toasted bagles: Chipotle, Tuscan Pesto/Olive and Cream Cheese with Dates.

           
Next I made FROMAGE de BRIE, a buttery soft French cheese that is good served warm heated in a baguette. The last stage to this recipe requires air-drying and aging on a wire rack for a couple of days. Now I was really starting to feel like a “fromagier” (if there is such a word) with cheeses aging on racks in cottages as I imagine they might in the French countryside. This is one of the two cheeses (the other is Cheddar) that can be frozen with good results.


            Now my Rejuvelac was ready and I proceeded with the rest of my cheese-making.
My SHARP CHEDDAR did not turn out as yellow as the one in the magazine photo, perhaps because I used the lighter Shiro miso, which I prefer, to the darker brown, saltier miso. However, the taste was superb and I simply renamed it SHARP WHITE CHEDDAR, reflecting its color. It is excellent served with autumn red and green apples and grapes. 


            The SWISS CHEESE looked nothing like the Swiss cheese I had eaten as a child, but the taste was familiar. I thought about making little holes in it to remind me of that other dairy cheese, but when I saw the photo of it on page 67 in VegNews, I realized that theirs didn’t resemble the holey cheese either! It is good made into sandwiches with Tofurky, mustard and Veganaise on rye. Next time I will try it on Seitan Reubens as well.


            Last but not least I attempted the most intriguing-looking cheese of all: AGED CHEVRE WITH HERBES de PROVENCE. Although you can buy pre-made dried mixtures of Herbes de Provence, I decided to make my own. Different references list different herbs grown in the Provence region of Northern France, such as summer savory, tarragon, fennel seeds, lavender flowers, oregano, basil, rosemary and thyme. The recipe called for 2 T. of the dried mixture. I settled for the following six herbs, so that I would use 1 t. of each to create 2 T. of the mix: rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, fennel seeds and lavender flowers. The lavender was the most unusual ingredient to me and I knew of a local natural foods store that carried it in bulk. After the initial aging step, the Chevre is rolled in the herbs and sea salt and allowed to air dry on a wire rack for 2 to 4 days. The end result is absolutely gorgeous, and can be served with fruit for an exotic dessert.

FURTHER NOTES ON CHEESE INGREDIENTS:
            Rejuvelac was commonly made and drunk in the 1970’s, after the recipe appeared in Victor Kulvinskas’s book, SURVIVAL INTO THE 21ST CENTURY. It contains healthy enzymes and non-dairy probiotics. The same can be said for Soy yogurt (“soygurt”).
            “Telephone”-brand is one of the best forms of Agar powder on the market and is available in Asian stores. It is made without additives and comes in little packets. It is usually the least expensive way to purchase it.
            Tapioca starch, Miso and Umeboshi Paste can also be found inexpensively in Asian stores.
            Nutritional yeast is found in natural foods stores and co-ops, usually in bulk.
            I hope that this blog inspires you to reach for new vegan heights, perhaps inspiring vegetarian friends to give up dairy after tasting these artisan vegan cheeses.

Here’s a link to the VegNews website:   http://vegnews.com/pages/page.do?pageId=3

And here’s a link to Miyoko Schinner’s website: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1570672830/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_alp_Wj5xqb1YRDXDZ

And here’s a link to my website:

1 comment:

  1. wonderful post! how great that you made all of Miyoko's VN recipes. I have made the mozzarella and a bunch of others from the book, and I currently have the VN brie and the cream cheese culturing. You've inspired me to make the Swiss! I want to make little holes... wouldn't that be cute? I just tried the new daiya Swiss slices and realized that I had forgotten about the unique flavor of that cheese. I look forward to reading more of your blog!

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