Seed Cheese
A Raw Vegan Cheese Ferment

I discovered seed cheese many years ago when I was looking for a substitute for dairy.

A friend told me how to make it and since then it is one of my favorite ways to eat seeds and to eat cheese.

Not only does it taste incredible, but it also breaks down the seeds into a much more digestible form.

I often crave fermented foods to give me an extra boost and help with digestion when I need it.

Because it is a cultured food, it provides beneficial flora needed for maintaining colon health.

The process of fermenting seed or nut based cheeses involves a culture starter or probiotic powder. 

This ingredient helps to break down these plant proteins into more digestible food that contains healthy living micro-flora.

As you ferment your raw vegan cheese you will notice it increase in size as the cultures begin to populate and grow.  This is a good sign, not a bad one. 

Unlike dairy, which seems to clog me up, our seed cheese recipe seems to do the opposite and moves things through!

The seeds are soaked, rinsed and blended, then left to culture for 4-7 hours, depending on the room temperature.

It is important to use raw seeds and nuts when fermenting them.  If they are roasted or heat processed in anyway you will not get the same result. 

Many of you probably already know this, but I thought I would mention it just in case.

Who Invented Seed and Nut Cheese?

Like wheatgrass and rejuvelac, this type of cheese was also popularized by the famous Dr. Ann Wigmore, who founded the Hipprocrates Health Institute.

She discovered it through experimentation in the early 70's and began using it with her raw energy soups to add more protein and a cheesy flavor.

Some people use rejuvelac, like Wigmore did, to help ferment their seeds, but we use probiotic powder because its more convenient and works just as well.

We leave ours loosely covered on a counter top and let it to do it's fermentation thing for at least a few hours or even over night depending on the room temperature.

Our seed cheeze recipe is a great way to eat nuts and seeds, like pumpkin seeds (which I love) that are high in zinc.

Although we use sunflower seed and pumpkin seed, the cheese still turns out whitish in color.

Other Nut Cheese Variations

Like I mentioned, you can always add nuts to your recipe.  To make our homemade Cheez Its recipe I use a fermented cheddar nut cheese made out of almonds, macadamia and brazil nut.

On average, however, I usually prefer more seeds than nuts in my cheese recipes.   I usually use about one fourth the amount of nuts to seeds. In other words, if you have 1 cup of seeds you would have 1/4 cup of nuts.

Almonds work particularly well in vegan seed/nut cheeses and are a body ecology approved food, along with pumkin and sunflower seeds.  All three are more alkaline in nature if you have issues with candida.

Forming Your Raw Cheese

You can form your seed cheeses in a mold after you after squeezed them through a nut milk bag or cheese cloth.  This create a soft cheese you can easily slice and use in other recipes.

The other option, and more simple one, is to use it as a soft ricotta like cheese that can be added as a topping on salads, soups or raw vegan pizza's.

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