​We've talked about aquafaba (the magical vegan egg replacer hiding in your jar of canned chickpeas) before...
...but our minds have been focused on desserts—vegan meringues, mousses, muffins—and mayonnaise.
The possible uses for aquafaba, it turns out, extend to the world of cheese, too. The same proteins and starches that make aquafaba a capable emulsifier in vegan mayonnaise also make it a key ingredient in semi-firm, melting vegan cheeses (which are a notoriously evasive source of much vegan grief: Soft cashew cheese and liquidy cashew queso are great, but not breaded and deep-fried.)
On the blog Avocados and Ales, Lacey uses aquafaba as an emulsifier (in place of soy lecithin, frequently added to dairy-free butters and cheeses) to make vegan cheddar and vegan mozzarella that can be sliced, shredded, and melted.
You'll still need some specialty​ ingredients—either agar or kappa carrageenan to act as a binder and lactic acid (lemon juice can suffice as a substitute) to add tang—but the rest of the process is simple, as demonstrated in this video from Mary's Test Kitchen:
If aquafaba makes homemade vegan mozzarella possible, what's next? Tell us how you've experimented with aquafaba in the comments!
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Written by: Sarah Jampel
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22 Comments
AH-KWA FAH-BA sounds a bit pretentious in these parts. :)
Organic kidney beans? Yes, probably vegan. Consumed raw? Toxic although not fatal. The mushroom Amanita phalloides? Yes, almost always vegan (as it grows as a wild mushroom), but also frequently lethal.
The controversy around carrageenan revolves around the question of whether or not it is fully safe based on a large range of international scientific studies.
The Europeans do not allow the ingredient carrageenan to be used in infant formula. Here in the USA, carrageenan is allowed in both organic and non-organic preparations.
Government agencies around the world don't always agree on what is acceptable or not for their constituents. Tennis pro Maria Sharapova had been taking a particular drug for years that was legal in her native country of Russia for years and allowed by international sports drug testing authorities and the tennis federation until 2016 when WADA (or the WTA) finally put it on their list of banned substances.
These lists change all the time. Whether or not something today is "good for you" or "vegan" may not be viewed the same next year, two years from now, or in the 2020s.
People who have philosophical dietary restrictions based on conceptual interpretations of what is "good for you" need to do routine re-evaluations of all of their behaviors on a frequent basis (perhaps annually like sports professionals do).
See what other Food52 readers are saying.