I have a friend that lives in Burlington, Vermont. I visited her and her wonderful town a few years ago (read more about it here) and I loved everything about it. From the cute streets and shops, to the nice people, the great restaurants, and the lively community atmosphere, I could definitely see myself living there. Well, actually, maybe not. I would freeze my toosh off. But that’s besides the point. One interesting thing I noticed was that it is extremely vegan/vegetarian friendly, pretty similar to Berkeley. I learned some new things about veganism that weekend, such as vegan-friendly makeup and this weird thing called nutritional yeast that my friend liked to eat on her popcorn. I bought some vegan-friendly mascara to take home with me (it’s pretty great if you need some), but I didn’t think twice about the nutritional yeast. It sounded too odd to experiment with.
That is, until I stopped eating so much cheese. The research for cheese substitutes began in full force. I ran across nutritional yeast again, and decided it was worth a shot. It turns out that it’s pretty great, and you don’t have to be vegan to enjoy it.
I started putting it on popcorn like a hypocrite, and adding it to my pesto. And then I decided my bolognese sauce was a little lonely. So I did some research and found a solution: cashew parmesan.
It’s so simple to make and lasts longer than you need. And tastes great in place of parmesan if you, too, try to limit your dairy. It’s no Pecorino Romano, and never will be, but it sure is a great substitute. Don’t be afraid to try it out like I was!
- 1 cup // 140g raw cashews
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup // 15 grams nutritional yeast
- Place all the ingredients for the cashew parmesan into the food processor. Process until the cashews resemble the size of grated parmesan.
- Use with anything you would normally use parmesan!
2 Responses
Dear Caitlin, your recipe is very interesting and I would love to try it but where do we find the nutritional yeast?
Even though I do not eat cheese, I eat parmesan because since it has to ‘mature’ for many months (18/36 months old) and it is alive (bacteria) it has undergone many transformations and it does not bother the intestine and stomach any more. Even lactose intolerant can eat it. It is still true though that it is an acid food and has to be taken in small quantities.
Ciao!!!
Hi Raffaella, you are right about parmesan, though I find not eating cheese everyday works best for me, and save the real stuff for just 1-2 times per week. If you are not intolerant to gluten, I have found nutritional yeast in Switzerland (online) here: http://www.morgashop.ch/en/streuwurzen/3358-hefeflocken-bio-dose-70-g.html
Otherwise, maybe you can find the Dr. Bragg one on Amazon.uk or .de. I usually just buy it when I’m in the US since it is in every grocery store there and can easily fit in my suitcase. Maybe you have a friend that can bring you it 🙂 Hope that helps!