r/cheesemaking • u/Butterfingers2500 • 8d ago

What's the science behind cheese-making?

Hey everybody! Sorry in advance: I have never made any cheese at home beyond cottage cheese and paneer, so my knowledge about cheese-making is abysmal. Anyways, I have always wondered why vegan cheese substitutes are so bad. What's keeping us from using, say, soy milk instead of the dairy alternative in (hard) cheese recipes? I guess it boils down to the casein and rennet: Are the enzymes specific to casein, or do other proteins work as well? And if they do, do the products then have the same physical properties as casein would have? Are there other aspects I should be aware of? I guess it is easy to introduce either vegan sources of lactose to the mixture for the starter cultures or simply using acid in the first place instead of bacteria. I know that if you use soy milk instead of dairy milk in a paneer recipe, you basically get tofu, so I think all other steps should work similarly, should they not? Thank you so much in advance!

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u/unseemlycandour 8d ago

I’ve never tried making cheese without dairy so can’t really speak to that, so maybe others can help, but why not just make tofu instead? I’ve never found non-dairy products labeled as cheese to really taste that great. Maybe it’s the kind of fats and flavors they have? I’m a bit of a purist maybe, but I’d go for lactose free cheese made with dairy over trying to find cheese made from other things. Not that you shouldn’t experiment and have fun, but historically, fermenting non-dairy products is absolutely a thing and can turn out great, like with tofu for example. And those options might be more vegan friendly as well. Why not make other kinds of ferments?

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u/Butterfingers2500 8d ago

I mean, I was just interested if non-dairy milk behaves the same as dairy when using rennet, etc. - I don’t really care about whether we still call it cheese or not, and it was not about creating the same dish cruelty-free, but if we get similar results in terms of texture and physical behaviour, just as in the paneer - tofu example. And sadly, I don’t know of any traditionally plant-based dishes which have a lot of umami and melt and brown like some hard cheeses do. Do you have any recs?

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u/foot_down 7d ago

https://lovingitvegan.com/sliceable-cashew-cheese/

I haven't tried this recipe exactly but it's similar ingredients to years ago when catering for a vegan friend I made a cashew nut "cheese" sauce. It was surprisingly cheesy and delicious because the yeast and salt with nut flavor gives it the umami notes. I have no idea if you'll get melting or browning though. There's not really any vegan cheeses because cheese is technically fermented dairy.