Ideal for EatingEating ethically while eating great!

Thanks to Tal Ronnen, I have become a true believer in the magic of cashew cream. For use in creamy soups, sauces and desserts, it makes you wonder why you ever used dairy in the first place. As Tal explains, raw cashews are rather bland. So, when you use cashew cream in recipes, you don't taste cashews. (If you want a distinct cashew flavor, you could try making the cashew cream with roasted cashews, instead of raw cashews.) Cashews are full of fat (12g per 1-ounce serving) and high in protein (5g per 1-ounce serving). Soymilk, in contrast, is very low in fat (only 4g per 8-ounce serving). By my crude calculations, 1 cup of cashew cream contains about 60 grams of fat.

Now, don't freak out about that ridiculously high number! You're not going to eat that whole cup of cashew cream straight -- or even mixed into a recipe all in one serving. For example, I turned 3/4 cup thick cashew cream into 2 1/2 cups of whipped cashew cream which I then turned into 6-8 servings of chocolate mousse. And I used 1 1/2 cups of thick cashew cream in 8 servings of corn chowder.

Additionally, the fat in nuts is extremely healthful. And from a culinary perspective, the fat from the cashew cream feels good in the mouth and slows down digestion just enough to make you full. Thus, you are less likely to overeat.

Back to using cashew cream as a dairy replacement in recipes. Vegans have long tried to substitute soymilk for dairy. But there just isn't enough fat in soymilk to make it a true replacement. The thing that we most like about chowders and mousses is that they are creamy, not watery. Cashew cream is the secret to making vegan and non-dairy cooking creamy.

Here is Tal Ronnen's recipe for cashew cream, both thick and regular.

And here is his recipe for making whipped cashew cream (from The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen):

Ingredients

1 cup thick cashew cream

1/4 cup light agave nectar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup water

2/3 cup refined coconut oil, warmed until liquid

Directions

Place the cashew cream in a blender and add the agave nectar, vanilla, and water. Blend until thoroughly combined.

With the blender running, slowly drizzle the coconut oil in through the hole in the blender lid. Blend until emulsified.

Pour into a bowl and chill in the refrigerator, covered, for 2 hours. Stir before serving. (Makes about 2 cups. Prep time: 2 minutes, plus 2 hours chilling.)