Dairy-free cream cheese can be made with a blend of oil, protein, binders, and flavors. Nuts like cashews are often used as a base, and non-dairy lactic acid or citric acid is added for acidity. Sugar and corn starch are added for sweetness and texture.
Dairy-free cream cheese, which is usually eaten by vegans or people who can’t digest dairy products, can be made with a variety of different ingredients. This type of artificial cheese is made from an oil, a protein, binders, and flavors that help it look, feel, and taste like real cream cheese, which is one of the simplest types of cheese to mimic. In order to mimic the flavor of real cream cheese, it is added mildly acidic, mildly sweet, and mildly sour to make it sour, and sugars to make it sweet. The texture can be recreated by mixing the ingredients thoroughly and then adding gums and binders to make the dough very thick.
A blend of oil and protein is the basis for dairy-free cream cheese. People who make this type of artificial cheese at home often use nuts, especially cashews, because they provide a good blend of oil and protein and also have a mild flavor reminiscent of cream cheese. Commercially produced dairy-free cream cheese will usually mix palm, soy or coconut oil with soy protein powder or tofu. No matter what oil and protein a person uses, these ingredients must be blended together until very creamy.
Real cream cheese has a slightly acidic taste. The acidity is a result of the presence of lactic acid, which is a waste product that is released into the cheese as some species of bacteria consume lactose. Commercially produced dairy-free cream cheese will often use non-dairy lactic acid to sour the imitation cream cheese. To create non-dairy lactic acid, these same types of bacteria must feed on lactose from a non-dairy source. Homemade nondairy cream cheese usually uses citric acid, like lemon juice, instead of lactic acid because citric acid is easier to find.
The natural sweetness of real cream cheese must also be recreated when making a cream cheese without dairy. Many recipes simply use a small amount of sugar to make the artificial cream cheese’s oils and proteins sweet. Artificial cream cheese recipes that use nuts as a base for the cheese usually don’t call for the addition of sugar because the nuts used contain enough natural sugar to sweeten the cheese slightly.
Mimicking the texture of cream cheese is the hardest part of making dairy-free cream cheese. In order to get the right consistency, corn starch is usually used to bind the ingredients together. Gums are also added to the imitation cream cheese to make the mixture soft, yet slightly chewy. Getting the right proportions of ingredients is key to recreating the texture of cream cheese.
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