Italian Macadamia Fermented Cheese

Directions:
Soak the macadamia nuts in filtered water for 2 hours. Rinse and drain the macadamias. Place them into a Vitamix. Add ½ cup of filtered water and the pro biotic acidophilus into the Vitamix. Blend until creamy smooth. Test the mixture with your fingers to make sure it is silky smooth. Take a measuring cup and place a plastic strainer over the top of it. Place cheesecloth in the strainer. Put the cheese from the Vitamix into the cheesecloth. Fold the cloth up and over the cheese. Place a 2 lb. weight on top of the cheese. Let it sit and drain at room temperature for 24 hours. Take 1 cup of filtered water and place it in a large 4 cup measuring cup. Add ½ tsp. onion powder, ½ tsp. of garlic powder, 1/3 cup of nutritional yeast, and 1 tsp. olive oil to the filtered water in the measuring cup. Whisk it all together and set aside. Take the dried tomatoes and chop them into small pieces. Place the small pieces of tomato into the measuring cup with the seasoned water and let soak for 1 hour. Drain the tomatoes into a separate container and save the seasoned water. Hand squeeze the water out of the tomato pieces into the saved tomato water. Set aside for future use. This is crucial, since you will be using the tomato water in two other recipes. Place the macadamia cheese into a bowl. Add all of the remaining ingredients, except the tomato water, to the cheese and mix them into the cheese by hand. Coat two round food molds inside with olive oil. Place the cheese into the food molds and press it down with a round food press. Place the molds onto a dehydrator tray with a teflex sheet. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 4 hours. Remove the cheese from the dehydrator. Place the round food press on top of the cheese. Slowly remove the molds by pulling up straight while pushing down with the food press. Place the cheese back into the dehydrator on a teflex sheet for another 9 hours.

Note:

The sauce that you set aside for future use is to be used in the Marinated Mushroom Garnish and the Marinated Eggplant Garnish that are in the Best of Italy Pizza recipe. The Best of Italy Pizza recipe is located in the entree section of the website.