Post Punk Kitchen Forum

So, over a week ago, I put some left over cashew "cream" (cashews blended in almond milk) in the fridge in a little bowl covered with tin foil. I tasted it today, and the flavor was kind of tangy as though it had started to ferment.

I know I should probably just chuck it, but cashews are just so darn expensive! Anyone know if and how I can turn this into cheese?

Uh, I wouldn't tempt the gods of massive gastric distress.

is Accidental Cashew Cheese a better name for a band or a short story collection? (it is a terrible name for a cause of death, so don't eat that shiitake.)

Lol...It would make a good name for a band!

I agree it sounds gross, but someone's got to agree with me that it's not really that different from a Miyoko Schinner artisan cheese recipe, right?

Somebody would but they would be wrong. When you make those, you're doing it in a controlled fashion. You're intentionally adding something to cause the fermentation-- yogurt or something, right?

Here you have wild bacteria causing some kind of fermentation. It could be something innocuous, or it could be something quite unpleasant.

Sounds very like the cashew sour cream recipe... If I remember rightly...

You are both kind of right. Yoghurt is used in AVC, but so is rejuvelac. Making rejuvelac is a process of 'capturing' wild bacteria and yeasts, as is sourdough, kimchi and many other kinds of ferments. The difference is that these are established methods, and pretty much known to be safe. Pretty much all fermented foods would have begun with wild bacteria, originally.

So i would say you should not eat it. Though i probably would, however i think i would cook with it ASAP. That's what i do when i have homemade almond milk that goes a bit sour. However maybe i've just been lucky. Food poisoning is horrible and you could die. Very badly.

There is absolutley no way I would be eating that. I do tend to err on the extreme side of caustion though so take my advice with that in mind. I tend to read the "Would you eat this?" thread and cringe becasue there is no way I eat any of that shitake! If make sure leftovers are eating within 2 days because after that they would be in th trash along with your "cashew cheese", two days would be my limit.

Haha! As a person who errs on the other side of caution when it comes to leftovers (a week is my limit, and I know a lot of people can't stomach things for that long), I wouldn't eat anything that tastes sour. Sour = bad, unless you did something to make it that way, I'm pretty sure.

Euphemism for premature ejaculation.

something is wrong with that penis, and i'm not talking about its timing. just sayin'.

ohhhhh. this. i would toss it but im not brave.

I've done wild-cultured cashew crème fraîche before just by leaving it out for a while. That's fine. But I was only keeping that for a couple days. Longer ferments really need some combination of salt, starter cultures, and temperature control to stay good. Over a week is sketchy for something like this. I mean, I would totally eat it so long as it looked and smelled okay, but I wouldn't *recommend* it. Or serve it to houseguests.

Yeah, I did about 30 seconds of research. Looks like he uses miso sometimes too?

But, yeah. Without somebody already having done the testing to make sure it's not something that's going to make your insides fall out your bottom after you eat it, I would say no no no.

I pretty much live on the edge in terms of food safety, and no way would I eat that. I think you're brave to have even tasted it! Chuck it.

Cultured foods are not the same as stuff left in the fridge too long. If you didn't really ferment the cashew cream (including some sort of incubation at room temp or warmer), chances are you have some sort of combo of good and bad bacteria growing in there.

A week is about my limit even for homemade soy yogurt in the fridge.

Yeah she does use miso but it's more for the flavour than the cultures, as it's kinda hard to get miso with live cultures, i believe. The salt content of many of the cheeses certainly limits the bacteria/yeast strains that can thrive, however there are some that have very little salt.

Yes it's true that the recipes have been tested to ensure your insides don't fall out your bottom. But there are variables in the rejuvelac making process. A rather wide range of grains and seeds (even malted grains and cabbage!) can be used to make it. The bacteria and yeasts are coming from the grains themselves (like sourdough), so i would expect its 'cultural composition' to be somewhat random and varied. People seem to have very different experiences, too, and describe their rejuvelac quite differently. As far as fermentation goes, rejuvelac is a pretty new thing, and i've found it difficult to find any specific info regarding actual strains that it might contain. But certainly i would say it is well enough established that you can be confident that if it seems okay, it is.

Sbudsky: get fermenting, on purpose! It's an awesome way to give foods a much longer shelf life, safely. And a bit of controlled rotting nearly always improves the flavour.

I keep my homemade yoghurt for nearly 3 weeks in the fridge sometimes. But i do think the flavour is best in the first week.

I wouldn't risk having my insides fall out of my bottom or come back out my mouth-hole for $6. I had food poisoning twice in the last few months and it was wretched. Both times because I took chances on things that were past their expiration and I really regretted it.

Me too, that shiitake lasts forever.

My insides haven't fallen out of my bottom yet...