From almondessence.com
For vegans and vegetarians who miss dairy products,
seed cheese delivers! It’s made from sprouted sunflower
seeds and almond milk, water, or kefir. This recipe won’t
taste good unless the sunflower
seeds have been sprouted!
Soaking the seeds removes the strong “raw†taste and
makes them sweet. The lemon and vinegar add delicious
tang. This versatile recipe is adapted from
the
Casa De Luz Community Cookbook: Sauces, Dressings, Condiments,
and Spreads, (www.CasadeLuz.org [2]) given here
with
their blessing, and has become a staple in our diets.
There are 35 grams of protein in one cup of sunflower
seeds! The look and texture of sprouted seed cheese
is
like ricotta or cottage cheese. We use sunflower seed
cheese in any recipe that normally would call for sour
cream, cheese, or yoghurt. It has found its way to
roasted veggies, salads, soups, crackers, fruits, green chilies, and much more. Sprouted seed cheese is an enzyme-rich food that will last 2 – 3 days, covered, in the refrigerator. Sometimes the cheese becomes a bit grey from oxidation, but this doesn’t seem to affect the taste. The lemon juice usually keeps the cheese white and bright. Leaving the skins on the sunflower seeds makes
the seed cheese greyer. Taking them off makes the cheese whiter and smoother.
1 cup sunflower seeds, soaked 4-8 hours, hulled
¼ cup almond milk
1 tablespoon Ume plum vinegar, apple cider vinegar, rice vinegar, generous
¼ teaspoon celtic sea
salt
2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
additional almond milk or water to blend as needed
*Ume Plum Vinegar contains high amounts of sea salt.
Put sunflower seeds in large bowl. Cover with
several inches pure water. Let soak 4 – 8 hours.
Pour water off. Cover again with cool tap
water. Gently rub seeds between palms
of
hands to remove skins, which will float to the
surface.
Pour most of the water and the floating skins
off. Repeat process several times. Tip:
Pour
the skins and water through a strainer to catch
the few seeds that escape. These can be sorted
out, or fed to the birds – they will love them!
When most of
the skins have been removed,
pour all the water and seeds through a
strainer. Drain.
Place seeds in blender or food processor with
almond milk or water, lemon
juice, garlic, vinegar, and salt (if apple cider vinegar is used).
Blend, adding more liquid if necessary. When using a food processor, scrape mix down
from the sides once or twice. Transfer to a serving or storing container. Cover
leftovers
and refrigerate for 2 – 3 days.
