Artisan Vegan Cheese

I don't write many reviews, albeit I own over 200 books. (Love the mini-library in my house!) I would like to take the opportunity to thank Miyoko Schinner. This book is absolutely amazing. I had actually bought a book on artisan cheese this past spring in an attempt to learn the process of cheese-making using dairy so that I could start playing with non-dairy products. I have to admit that the book was great, but I was too overwhelmed with all of the chemical and bacterial interactions to actually do anything with it. Then I found this book. The instructions are clear and complete. The variety of cheeses with recipes is wonderful and much more expansive than I expected: brie, camembert, cheddar, mozzarella, muenster, gouda, emmentalier, and more. Notes on times and how temperature affects time are useful (I live in FL). I've made the rejuvelac, cashew cheese, mozzarella, brie and cheddar (nothing in the melt-able or air-dried sections yet). The brie was amazing. It came out nice and firm, but softened beautifully when left on the counter for an hour or so before using. It didn't taste exactly like brie (I'm a big lover of brie and camembert), but it was a superb non-dairy replacement. I finished off 3/4 of a large baguette and almost half of the brie in one setting! It was ADDICTING!! The mozzarella didn't come out as I'd hoped. Like another reviewer, I used agar flakes as I hadn't received my carrageenan powder yet. I knew going in to it that the agar would cause problems. I've never been able to get good results using agar flakes. The mozzarella taste was fine -- very reminiscent of what I remember mozzarella tasting, but it was extremely soft. The cheese formed balls in the liquid, but half of the balls dissolved slightly before I even finished dropping in all of the cheese. They haven't degraded any further, but when I use them, they are very soft and not slice-able. The cheddar was incredible before it even cultured. I thought the taste was VERY close to dairy cheddar. (I kept swiping tastes every hour or so). I let it culture for 3 days and then finished it with the carrageenan. It didn't get as firm as I thought it would with the carrageenan. The consistency is more like a thick spread and definitely can't be cut. However, the taste is still fantastic. I think I just need a bit more practice working with carrageenan. Overall, I'm thrilled with the tastes I'm getting thus far. I am working my way into the air-dried cheeses this week. I would love to get a camembert with a nice rind. That would be so neat!

I've purchased and tried making several vegan cheeses in the past. Most of the purchased ones taste awful. Daiya brand is ok and it melts, but it doesn't have the "bite" that dairy cheeses do. In this book, Miyoko Schinner takes non-dairy cheese making to a whole new level. Most of these cheeses are fermented and I would be hard pressed to tell the difference on some of them. I've tried a cheddar, a meltable mozzarella and a smoked cheddary cheese spread that was supposed to be a chevre, but I let it culture a little too long and it got too tangy, so I improvised from one of her other recipes. (It tastes wonderful!) All come as close to dairy cheeses as any I have tried thus far. If you're looking for some recipes you can whip up in a hurry, most of these, especially the good ones can take up to a week or more to prepare, although once you have a batch of rejuvelac made up and stored in the frig, it goes much more quickly. Very little of that time is spent actually putting things together. Most of it is the waiting for ingredients to soak and culture. Many only require checking every 12 hours or so until you get up to the very end. You'll also learn about some ingredients you may not have heard of before, or may have seen on food labels but didn't know what they do, like carrageenan powder, xanthan gum, tapioca flour, nutritional yeast and agar powder. Several of the recipes include raw cashews and miso paste which aren't always that easy to find. I had to make a few trips to health food stores for the miso. All are available on Amazon although the miso is kind of pricey here. One of the ingredients that is used in some of the cheeses is rejuvelac, which is a fermented liquid made from filtered water and sprouted grain. I made mine from quinoa because that's what I had on hand, although it can be made from wheatberries, rye or even brown rice. With the very warm weather and humidity we've had here this week, the process went very quickly and I now have a big jar of it in the frig for future batches. I had never heard of this stuff before. It tastes kind of like a mild sauerkraut juice and it is used to ferment the ground cashews or other ingredients. It also gives a tang to whatever you put it in which adds to the cheesy flavor. I've only touched the surface on trying the cheeses in this book (I got the Kindle version). I'm looking to try a lot more but have gotten to the point where we need to eat what we have here since they only last in the frig for a couple of weeks. Most can be frozen for up to 4 months. Since many use nuts and oils they aren't exactly low calorie so we can't just scarf down the whole batch in one sitting. (But it's tempting!) And the ones with all the fats are probably the ones that taste most like dairy cheese because of their consistency. But if you want to stick to a vegan diet or are allergic to diary products, these are fine alternatives. I have to admit, I'm having fun learning about making them. Thanks to Miyoko of a very entertaining and useful book!

As an unabashed foodie, I adore summer weather in the Northeast for more than flower gardens. My herb containers are full of basil. I take frequent jaunts to select fruits and vegetables at farmers' markets -- envying California residents who enjoy these events year-round. In July, I joined six other students in northern California for Chef Miyoko Schinner's five-day Summer Cooking Intensive, hosted in the impressive kitchen of Miyoko's San Anselmo home. All students were keen to learn new, make-from-scratch, vegan gourmet dishes -- especially the innovative recipes from Miyoko's just-released cookbook, Artisan Vegan Cheese. Miyoko divided the class into two groups. Each tackled a dazzling array of approximately 80 creations: from homemade yogurt, Gruyère fondue and Philadelphia-style cream cheese to Italian sausages, Umbrian truffle sauce with rice pasta and meringue tarts. On Friday afternoon, we had a barbeque party on Miyoko's back porch. While sharing the company of teenage children and dogs, cats and rescued chickens, we enjoyed vegan versions of boeuf bourguignon, seared tempeh with peach balsamic glaze, strawberry arugula salad, Spanish potato salad with artichoke aioli, BBQ ribs (started the previous day, as bean curd sticks need to soak), carpaccio of zucchini, nectarines and basil, black bean and wild rice sliders, and Miyoko's famous seitan Zen Kabobs with mango-tamarind glaze. Wowsers! Then dessert arrived: Miyoko's out-of-this-world chocolate cake. Miyoko demonstrated cooking techniques that made us all better cooks, no doubt. I over-indulged. But the day after flying home, I started cooking again -- a few favorites such as zucchini basil soup -- and roasting lots of tomatoes to produce the most remarkable roasted tomato-skin pesto and, later, roasted tomato risotto. Peach salad with vanilla vinaigrette is sensational, and curried eggless salad is delicious accented with black salt and enjoyed with homemade no-knead bread. Miyoko's eggplant rollatini is filled with a smooth almond ricotta filling -- better than any commercial product you'll find. To recreate some of what I learned, I purchased two covered bread-baking dishes that help produce bread with a delightful crust. And I got ample supplies of cashews, almonds, Rejuvelac and other ingredients for cheese-making. Sold on high-speed blenders for making cheeses, I ordered one that's hardly stopped liquefying something since it arrived. Next on my to-do list is non-dairy mozzarella. When creating it, we dropped balls of the warm cheese into ice water, and later ate this creamy, outstanding creation on slices of just-baked, no-knead bread with sliced tomatoes and fresh basil, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Miyoko's texture for these cheeses is remarkable, and her excursions into vegan cheese-making break all commercial barriers -- giving cooks the know-how to make many delectable creations that haven't been replicated elsewhere. Do buy this cookbook. If you'll invest a bit of time in producing the recipes in Artisan Vegan Cheese, this book will be a favorite. It's available now through Amazon and other booksellers. Miyoko will also be featured on "Vegan Mashup," a public television cooking show starting this season. I'm delighted that Friends of Animals will be one of the show's sponsors.

I've had this book for two weeks now. I have made the rejuvelac, the yogurt, and 12 of the cheeses. The rejuvelac recipe is easy and worked well. The yogurt has yet to work for me after 2 tries and much wasted almond milk. Therefore, the yogurt cheese also failed. The fresh mozzarella doesn't seem to work for anyone, I've tried it twice, both times following the recipe exactly. It just doesn't get solid. May be a flaw with the directions in how to add the agar. The gruyere is delicious. The sharp cheddar is acceptable. The meltable cheddar and air-dried cheddar still wont work for me, they turned into sauce instead of solid cheese. The meltable mozzarella works very well but taste isn't 100%. Meltable monterey is wonderful. Smoked provolone is SUPER EASY and AMAZING. In my opinion it's the best cheese recipe in the book so far, makes an amazing grilled cheese (see picture). Bottom line, there are some treasures in this book, but also some iffy recipes that don't work for everyone. The really good reviews on here are from people who only did the very easy basic recipes, so take those at face value. I made the complicated cheeses and found that they don't always work so great. But, if you are prepared to experiment, fail, cry, waste money on expensive agar and carrageenan to eventually find something you love and can't live without, buy this. I for one will take 3-4 recipes from this book to keep on hand as delicious staples (

I purchased this book back in December and just didn't do anything with it. Not until there was an opportunity to take the vegan cheese class with Miyoko that I started to take a look what I could do before I took the class. A few weeks before taking the class I tried to make rejuvelac and chose quinoa. It was easy that I wondered why I didnt' try sooner. I had problems in the beginning with firming the cheese and cooking the agar but after taking the class I saw how it was done. I should have known how to cook agar for growing up in Indonesia and have been using it for years. I have Kappa Carageenan but mostly use agar powder I bought from Asian market. The carageenan is expensive so I rather use agar. Most of the recipes provide alternative between carageenan and agar. Cali's review on April 18, 2013, is correct. Cooking the cheese is a bit tricky. That is to know when to stop cooking and how long. If you cook too long, the cheese becomes oily and if you cook to short the cheese won't be firm. With practice I was able to do it. I also agree that quinoa rejuvelac was very easy. Buying rejuvelac in the market can be very expensive. I made air dried Smoked Provolone, Fresh Mozzarela, air dried Gouda, air dried Smoked Gouda(adding liquid smoke to regular gouda), air dried Camembert, Sharp Cheddar, Boursin, Brie, Monterey Jack, Almond Ricotta, Cashew Cream Cheese, Soft and Hard Gruyere. I also made yogurt. However, I happen to have YoLife so it was easy just to put the mixture in it and voila yogurt is done. I also put to-be-cultured cheese mixture in YoLife for just 7 hours and cheese mixture is cultured. It speed up the process of culturing. Not all the cheeses need to be air dried. However, I invested a small wine fridge, buying it from Craigslist to air dry the cheeses. I dont' like the idea of leaving cheeses on the counter, air drying. It works really well by setting the fridge to 54-55F. I found that even after I eat the cheese I can just leave the leftovers back to the wine fridge for more air drying or aging. When the cheese is aged and sometimes hard, I crumbled it as pasta toppings. I don't have to eat all the cheeses at once (except those that are soft cheeses and need to be consumed in 2 weeks or so) and can store in the wine fridge. I use safflower oil and refined coconut oil for Brie and Gruyere. I use pine nuts and cashews. I use Whole Soy Unsweetened Yogurt when I don't do my own yogurt. I made yogurt with cashews and soy milk, too. I am beginning to try the dessert recipes, too. I really believe that this is a great cookbook and fun to work with. I am having Vegan Cheese Tasting parties(with wine and other appetizers) with my vegan friends. It is a lot of fun! My friends enjoy all the cheeses I made from this cookbook.

I Love love love love love this book! I have really good cheese back in my life again. I have many food allergies/intolerances, including dairy, eggs, and soy and that trifecta had me believing that ANY kind of cheese - dairy or non-dairy was gone for good. (Most non-dairy cheese is soy based, and the one brand that wasn't sucked rocks.) After getting my order of KAPPA (not iota) carrageenan powder, adzuki bean miso (this was the toughest thing to find a non-soy alternative for), and agar powder, I went on a cheese making orgy. I already had guar gum and tapioca flour on hand. (I can't use the xanthan gum because it's made from corn, and the guar gum works just fine.) One thing to keep in mind: cheese making is cooking with a calendar rather than a clock for the most part. The fastest recipes I tried were for meltable mozzarella and cream cheese (2-3 days) and the longest were for air-dried cheese-board cheeses - cheddar and parmesan about 9-14 days. The first time takes the longest, since you will need to make rejuvelac and possibly also yogurt, so add an extra 1-3 days onto your cheese plans the first time out! The good news is, these are very simple recipes without much hands on time, mostly aging time, so plan to do this during a week or 2 where you can spend 2 - 20 minutes on it every day or so. I found yogurt-making (specifically almond) to be the most challenging part of the process as I kept getting separated yogurt. I did NOT want to purchase a yogurt maker, and after trying several different methods of keeping the yogurt warm, found that filling a medium sized cooler with 110 degree F water was the best way to get the stable temp needed for culturing. On the upside, the separated yogurt worked just fine when I shook it before I used it in all of the recipes, so none of my "flops" went to waste. Also checking out the author's site, I learned that Almond yogurt is the hardest one to get right and it will ALWAYS come out a bit runny. During my cheese making orgy, I made: yogurt, cashew and almond Cream cheese cheesecake with a gluten-free date crust (AWESOME!) meltable mozzarella, air dried brie, air dried cheddar, air dried parmesan, and alfredo sauce! Every one of these came out A+ flavor-wise and really close texture-wise. I double checked my subjective opinion by feeding them to my non-allergic, meat-eaters and got 2 thumbs up from everyone! Definitely worth the effort and the cost. (The KAPPA carrageenan, adzuki bean miso, agar powder and nuts added up to a pretty chunk of change, but the agar and carrageenan go a LONG way and it will be a couple years before I need more.) The recipes make VERY generous amounts of cheese, so plan to freeze some or split it with a non-dairy, cheese-making buddy. The only cheese I've had to make more of is the meltable mozzarella, which we are on our 4th batch of. Doing my happy cheese dance! :)

I bought this book after reading favorable reviews. I was beginning a quest to change to a "hybrid" diet (mostly consisting of eliminating dairy consumption entirely) as part of a healthier lifestyle. I have been in the culinary industry for many years and am a classically trained chef. The promise of this book and its recipes seemed like a promising and inventive alternative to dairy cheeses. After trying many of the recipes, I must conclude that while they are interesting attempts at dairy substitutes, they are far, far away from anything that resembles the real McCoy in terms of firmness, texture and, most importantly, flavor. I hope that the recipes will continue to be refined over time. As others have commented, the authentic ingredients (which must be used for the highest probability of success) are expensive, hard-to-find (i.e., not generally available locally) and require using them with extremely accurate timing and temperature control. However, some of the recipes are more tolerant to mistakes, less skill and general goof-ups. That being said; if you are willing to completely compromise your expectations and taste perceptions with regard to what "cheese" is supposed to be, then you may find the product of these recipes palatable. "Die-hard" vegans seem to be generally willing to do this, but anyone else may be quite surprised, if not shocked by what the final products look, smell and taste like. Definitely not what non-Vegan's would expect. However, the flavors/textures, nonetheless are interesting and show promise. Caveat-Emptor.

I've had the books for a couple weeks now and have made the following recipes: Air-dryed Parmesan: My first try and it did not work for me, probably because my yogurt cheese was too wet. Meltable Cheddar: Good flavor, just barely sliceable, didn't melt, I think because I didn't cook it long enough. Very good on our vegan burgers, though. Meltable Muenster: Excellent flavor! It wasn't around long enough to experiment with melting. Brie: Oh, my! Just wonderful! Fresh Mozzerella: This was incredible and so pretty in the jar. I bought a small cookie dough scoop to make baby Boccancino. Farmer's Cheese: Easy and authentic. Air-dryed Gouda: Drying now, but although darker than the Gouda pictured in the book, seems to be working correctly. Air-dryed Emmantaler: Again, drying now and quite pretty. Has a faint pink tinge as I used sauerkraut that I had fermenting that was made partly with red cabbage. Air-dryed Cheddar: Culturing on my counter and already quite tasty. Sharp Cheddar: Again, culturing and tasty. Yogurt: Delicious! I haven't eaten yogurt since I quit keeping goats years ago. None of the store-bought yogurt tasted good to me and now I rarely use animal products. The soy yogurts I have sampled were awful. I'm eating yogurt again! I found the recipes to be easy. I can see how one could make a mistake or two, but it's not hard to figure out where on went wrong and you can get lots of tips on the author's website if you run into a problem. The actual time spent working the recipes is minimal, but there are lengthy waiting periods while products are hanging, culturing, aging, ect. That, however, shouldn't be surprising as we are making cheese! Yay! I was able to source all the ingredients locally in my small town at the little grocery store a block from my house with the exception of the carrageenan, which I easily found online. I was advised to purchase the Kaffa Carrageenan. I am having a difficult time finding the fermented tofu (for the Piquant Brown Cheese) with reasonable shipping charges, but will check at the Asian Market when I go to the "big city" in a couple of weeks. I often refer to myself as "vegan with occasional cheese mishaps". Now I will just be "vegan". So glad the author took the time to share her knowledge. There is a special place in my heart for her.

作者の方はアメリカでヴィーガンチーズやヴィーガンバターなどで有名な日本人です。 残念なことに日本では買えないので、それなら作ってみようと思って本を買いました。 写真が少なくて出来上がりが同じかわからないのですが、味はとても美味しいです。 まだ玄米リジュベラックを使った発酵するタイプは作っていないのですが、まとまった時間が取れる時に挑戦したいです。 めっちゃ手間がかかるので！ 混ぜるだけのやつはフープロやブレンダーがあれば割と簡単にできます。 乳製品を控えるように言われているので買いました。

Amazing recipes that allow someone on a non-dairy diet to experience the joys of cheese again. Recipes are relatively simple, but do take careful attention to the instructions. Be prepared to experiment and don't be discouraged if the recipe does not work first time. I did need to seek further clarification and the author responded quickly in a very helpful manner. I did spoil a batch of air-dried faux cheese because I took her instructions literally. I did not despair and will attempt this recipe again. Agar must be prepared as described in the appendix; do not just add agar powder to your base. My non-vegan friends could not believe the taste, texture and the fact I made this myself. All recipe measurements are Imperial, but fortunately I am old enough to use pre-metrification units of measure. Overall, I really marvel at the ease to make vegan cheese and look forward to trying her other recipes and then perfect those we enjoy most.

chi non conosce l'autrice di questo libro! veramente utile con tate ricette interessanti, ovviamente poi ignuno le puo adattare ai suoi gusti

This is the best book ever. The recipes are easy to follow and very tasty. Love that the recipes are in order of difficulty. So you can work yourself through book and gain more experience as you go along.

Realmente las recetas son perfectas.