What do you feel is best substitute for cashews in cheesy + other dairy raw recipes?

[Diana Cda]

I've always found cashews to be heavy and hard to digest for me, what with the fact that they're not raw and contain aflatoxin, I don't like to eat them anymore. But so many raw recipes include them for their creaminess so I'd like to find the best alternative/substitute.

I've actually not experimented with other nuts as they're too expensive to experiment with. I tend to just use soaked/sprouted sunflower seeds.

But thought I'd find people's experience with using some of the other alternatives. What do you use in your favourite creamy/raw vegan dairy recipe?

Thanks.

[michigan roman]

what would happen with an almond mylk / avacado mixture

add in things like chives - parsley - garlic - spinach for a vegi dip

maybe add nutritional yeast

i guess i shouldnt say anything here because i never make recipes and am just guessing :D

[qwerty988]

Try sesame seeds! Blend em with water......... creamy and delish!

[Diana Cda]

Actually, that's a pretty neat idea. I can't afford avocados right now but if things improve, an almond mylk/avocado mixture is an intriguing idea to try. Not sure my tummy like the sound of the idea, but it's really an intriguing one <g>.

I was actually thinking more on what nut would be better substitute for cashews. Cashews just seem to be _everywhere_ in raw vegan cheez recipes. Macs are truly raw, I think, but are so expensive and I don't know if they're even a good substitute. Pine nuts, too, are very expensive and do they even work well?? They're not organic, either, but coming from cones, wondering if we can consider them wild-crafted which is probably as good as (maybe better?) than being organic.

Anyway ... hopefully someone regularly substitutes something for cashews successfully. I can't afford experimenting with something that might not work, you see. Thanks.

[Diana Cda]

Try sesame seeds! Blend em with water......... creamy and delish!Thanks. I've actually tried sesame seeds but I've found them too strong for cheez and other dairy recipes. Have you found a way to make them more bland, like cashews are? I think that's why cashews are so popular. Once soaked, they lose their distinctive flavour and bland out enough that they take the flavours of the other ingredients well.

... actually, maybe that's where an answer might lie re sesame seeds. I use them only occasionally, and don't recall ever soaking them. Wonder if that will not only make them blander but also allow them to be better processed. Sesame seeds always turn out a very grainy recipe which wouldn't work for cheese. But is that true even when soaked? I'll try this today and report back. I have a small amount in the cupboard.

[qwerty988]

Soak them and they have an extremely mild flavor -- creamy and bland, if you will. I use them instead of cashews anytime I want an alfredo sauce, a cheezy/nutritional yeast type sauce, and even for smoothies if I'm doing an orange juilius or shake type smoothie.

Also you can control how strong the sesame flavor is by playing with the ratio of seeds to water. I don't use a lot at a time, usually a handful or quarter cup at most.... I imagine the more seeds you add, the stronger the flavor?

I've never used them for cheez, though -- just cheezy creamy sauces, soups and smoothies.

[walnutty]

Macadamia nuts!