'Feta Cheese'

A few friends of mine decided we should have a cheese and wine party to celebrate the end of an exhausting semester. Everyone was to bring a vegan cheese or two. I decided on a Feta and Jalapeno Cheddar. Both came out so good that my non-vegan family members insist I keep them in the house at all times for snacking purposes. The feta was also the favorite at the party.

 This 'feta' was drizzled with some olive oil and garnished with green olives, although good, it wasn't as good as the way I prepared the feta for the party.

The 'feta' (on right) for the party was prepared with a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, a few olives, and tapenade to top it off. This to me (and everyone else) really tasted like feta.


2 cups raw macadamias, soaked 4 hours
1 cup water
1 teaspoon non-dairy probiotics: I buy mine at a health food store in the refrigerated section in capsules. For mine about 8 opened capsules equals 1 teaspoon. I like the Solaray brand, I get something similar to this.

Using a vitamix or other high power blender, blend above ingredients until smooth. You will need a few pieces of cheesecloth, a nut-milk bag, or brand new pantyhose for this next step. Get a bowl and place a large strainer over top so drainage can occur throughout the process.

 If using cheesecloth, line the bottom of the strainer with the cheesecloth, place the mixture in the lined strainer, and line the top with another piece of cheesecloth before putting a weight on it.

If using a nut-milk bag, fill the nut-milk bag with mixture and place it in the strainer, add weight to top.

If using brand new pantyhose, cut a leg off the pantyhose and fill with the mixture. Most likely just the 'foot' fill be filled, squeeze it down to the bottom before knotting and cutting off all the excess fabric. Place this in the strainer and add weight to top.

The weight should not be so heavy that it pushes the cheese through the cloth, but heavy enough to gently start to press the liquid out. You can use a small glass bowl, or a plastic container filled with a little bit of water. Cover with a clean dish town and leave to culture for 24 hours at room temperature. The probiotics will prevent any molding process from occuring.  Once culturing is complete take the solid mixture out of the cloth/fabric and place it into a bowl. Stir in the below ingredients.

3⁄4 (scanty) teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast (found at health food stores, Whole Foods has it in the bulk bins)

Line a loaf pan with parchment or wax paper, have the paper come up the edges of the loaf pan. Spoon mixture into pan and spread evenly with a spatula. Grind some black peppercorns over top. Allow to sit in the refrigerator for a minimum of 24 hours to firm up a bit. Once it sets you can carefully remove the mixture by lifting up the sides of the wax paper. Cut into bite sized pieces, garnish, and serve or refrigerate for later. Because the probiotics prevents molding it can last (supposedly) six weeks in the fridge, mine has never made it past five days without someone polishing it off.

This makes a lot of cubes, about five times the amount that is shown in the first picture.

*This process seems really intimidating at first but each step just takes a few minutes, it's more of a waiting game than anything. After making it once you'll be able to do it again without even referencing the recipe.

Recipe adapted from Russell James