Oh my my, I love cashew cheese. There are a lot of store-bought, processed vegan cheeses out there, and some of them are quite good but few are meant to be eaten without melting first. This Pepperjack recipes is inspired from The Complete Guide to Vegan Food Substitutions, which I talked about here.
This recipe makes a lot of cheese and could easily be cut in half.
Prepare a loaf pan (9×5 or so) by lightly oiling the bottom and sides.
Blend the cashews in (ideally a Vita-mix) mixer or food processor until totally smooth. Add the lemon juice, nutritional yeast, salt, onion and garlic powders, and red pepper flakes and mix together until smooth.
Meanwhile measure 1 Tbsp of agar and mix with 3 cups of water. Bring to a full boil and then boil for five minutes, whisking often.
Pour the cashew mixture into agar/water pot and stir together until well combined and smooth. The cheese should come together at this point and clear the sides of the pot.
Immediately fill your prepared loaf pan with the cheese and smooth over the top.
Refrigerate until hard. When ready gently pull cheese away from the sides and flip it out. Cut with a serrated knife. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator for up to one week. For longer storage tightly wrap the cheese in plastic wrap several times and store in freezer. 
Enjoy with crackers or fruit.
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This was very tasty. Kate, Bea, and I all liked it. Is it supposed to have olive oil? I noticed it mentioned in the directions, but not in the ingredients list.
I’m glad you tried it Graham! Thanks for noticing the olive oil. I had originally made it with a little oil then felt like it was too oily with the cashews. What did you think? Did it seem like it was missing something without it?
I actually made it will olive oil (about 2 Tbsp). It was, in fact, too oily. But still good!
What would you recommend using instead of agar powder? I haven’t been able to find it hear in Malaysia
I think anything you use to replace agar powder would involve adjusting the recipe a lot. you could always order agar online…
i wish i could help you more.
It’s ok! I’ll put this recipe into my ‘to-do’ folder! Shipping costs are pretty high here…but I’ll keep my eyes open for some here!
Oooh this looks really yummy! I was just wondering though, will it melt at all if I want to use it in a quesadilla?
I tried it in a quesadilla and wasn’t too excited about the texture. This cheese is best as a spread on crackers or fruit.
I’ve made cheezes with agar and found that they won’t melt well unless covered while heating. I can make a vegan pizza with the grated cheeze on top, but it doesn’t melt in the oven. But if I make a skillet spaghetti dinner and spread some of the cheeze over the top and then cover it with my glass lid, it will melt nicely. No clue as to why this is.
For Stephanie in Malaysia …Agar is a vegetable gelatin. The stuff you make jelly with etc.)You are close to India (Largely a vegetarian country) so an Indian supermarket will have this albeit by another name. If that fails Amazon sell it world wide :0)
Hi Sarah,
I just made this and put thin strips in fajitas = good. thanks for coo cheese.