Stretchy, chewy, tacky — and comprised of sesame?! I’ve by no means seen this contemporary mozzarella-like texture from vegan cheese earlier than and it developed utterly accidentally whereas I used to be making an attempt to make sesame tofu.

🎥 Watch “Mozzarella from SEEDS?! Has Will It Tofu Gone 2 Far?” on YouTube

You’ll see precisely how the mozzarella-like curds developed, utilizing each natural and traditional sesame seeds, plus the standard chaos that comes with each Will It Tofu? episode.

Plus, large because of Saje for sponsoring the video and retaining me sane by the chaos. This weblog put up is just not sponsored however I might by no means hold a reduction code from my readers! Use “MARYTK” at checkout to get 20% off sitewide plus free delivery at Saje.com (the US retailer) or Saje.ca (the Canadian retailer).

Present Vegan Mozzarella Choices

In the meanwhile, vegan mozzarella tends to fall into three essential classes:

1. 🧀 Saucy-style mozzarellas, like Miyoko’s Pourable Mozzarella or Vedged Out’s Cunning Moxy recipe, that are creamy, tangy, starch-thickened sauces good for pizza and lasagna.
   These are usually comprised of potato starch, tapioca, or cashews, they usually “stretch” visually — however in actuality, it’s extra of a goopy pull than a real cheese stretch.
2. 🍥 Agency, sliceable mozzarella, which often soften below warmth (although by no means fairly just like the dairy model) like Miyoko Schinner’s recipe for Straightforward Vegan Buffalo Mozzarella. Or my Creamy Garlic Cultured Mozzarella recipe. They slice cleanly and could be pan-melted or layered in caprese salads.
   These are sometimes set utilizing a mixture of starches and agar or kappa carrageenan to allow them to be agency at room temperature and soften below warmth.
3. 🧩 Industrial vegan cheese shreds, akin to Violife Mozzarella Shreds, Daiya Reducing Board Mozza, and Comply with Your Coronary heart Mozzarella, that are designed to soften for pizza or pasta.
   They’re handy and melty however don’t fairly replicate that contemporary mozzarella chew that dairy cheese lovers bear in mind.

All of those could be scrumptious and versatile — however this stretchy sesame curd I stumbled upon is totally totally different.
It wasn’t made with starch, agar, or gums. Only one ingredient: sesame seeds.

How I Found the Mozza in Sesame

For those who’ve been following the Will It Tofu? collection, you recognize I’ve been utilizing the standard tofu-making methodology (soaking, mixing, straining, and curdling) on non-traditional elements. The outcomes are sometimes stunning (generally inedible, generally superb).

In my first sesame tofu experiment, the flavour was bitter. I suspected it might need been as a result of seeds themselves — perhaps previous, perhaps improperly saved — so I made a decision to retry the experiment with two new batches: one standard and one natural.

After soaking and mixing the seeds into sesame milk, I heated the liquid — anticipating tofu-like curds. As an alternative, one thing wild occurred.

At round 170°F, the sesame milk started to self-coagulate — no coagulant added — and shaped two distinct textures:
a delicate, creamy curd and stretchy curds that regarded precisely like contemporary mozzarella curds.

After I picked it up with my spoon, it even had that cheese-pull impact. No starch. No agar. No magic methods. Simply sesame seeds.

Naturally, I pressed the curds to see if the sensation would endure.

Within the first batch (standard), I harvested all of the seen curds. However there was a lot leftover whey that I made a decision to warmth it up once more. The curds that developed throughout that spherical have been extra rubbery and agency. 

I put each varieties in the identical press.

For the natural batch, I boiled the milk for an extended time. The identical two textures developed: one creamy and clumpy, one stretchy and bouncy. All went right into a tofu press as properly.

The outcomes

The traditional batch had the 2 separate textures: one facet was agency however creamy like the unique sesame tofu! Nevertheless it was not bitter in any respect. 

The opposite facet, comprised of the second spherical of boiling, was extra agency and bouncy. The within texture was layered, making me consider vegan rooster! The mouthfeel was meaty as properly.

Identical ingredient — utterly totally different outcomes.

So now I’ve much more questions:

• What made the authentic batch of sesame curds behave in a different way?
• Can we maximize the yield and use these stretchy curds on pizza or lasagna?
• Additionally, how can we separate the creamy curds from the stretchy ones? What sort of vegan cheeses can we make from that?
• What about vegan sesame rooster?

I’ve already restocked on sesame seeds so please subscribe as a result of that is just the start!