Faux-mage at The Bewildered Pig
A Deep-Dive into Crafting Truly Scrumptious Plant-Based Cheese
by Janelle Weaver
Look anywhere in history and you will find creative minds dealing with adversity and turning it into creativity. We were about a year into the COVID rollercoaster, and navigating the ongoing challenges of surviving the crisis continued to present huge burdens of uncertainty, stress, and discord. I decided it would be a good idea to disappear into a gastronomic rabbit hole for a while, and I decided that rabbit hole had to be located in new culinary territory. In order to enliven both brain hemispheres, it had to excite the creative right and pose endless opportunities for new and exciting flavor profiles. But it also had to fulfill the linear left with aspects of technical mastery. Hoping that something creative and delicious could be channeled out of all the hullaballoo, we closed The Bewildered Pig for “R&D Sessions” so we could realign our spirits and focus on the future. Making plant-based food was not the initial impetus for or the muse of this cheese-y venture. Rather, the idea was born as a confluence of a quandary and a quest. And in the process, we created delicious, nutritious, and beautiful plant-based cheese.
There’s a lot of hype about plant-based cheeses these days, and there’s a lot of confusion and quibbling about calling these products “cheese,” rather than “cheeze.” The current nomenclature, albeit somewhat abbreviated, is that they are referred to as “cheese” if the product is actually cultured, and therefore age-able, and “cheeze” if it is just a combination of starches and binders. As echoed in the dairy cheese world, the most sought after, complex versions are small batch, artisanal, and unique to the maker and/or affineur. Thankfully, the same trend is emerging for plant-based cheeses, and that is what I wanted to make. Not because I don’t like or eat dairy cheese—in fact the opposite is true. I love dairy cheese, and the stinkier and gooier, the better! Therefore, the idea was to make plant-based cheeses that both plant-based folks and dairy cheese-lovers would appreciate, and that has become the standard for how we grade our creations.
Early in this endeavor, a good vegan friend of ours (who also happens to be a big inspiration for this project) turned us on to a well-respected retailer in the country who specializes in vegan foods from all over. We ordered a smattering of plant-based cheeses, and we invited a dairy goat-cheese-making friend to taste them with us! I interspersed our own first renditions of cheese alongside about 10 other samples of plant-based cheeses and cheezes. Admittedly, much of what we sampled ranged from pretty underwhelming to nothing short of gross. There was only one cheese that truly impressed, and we offered it in the market until we could produce enough of our own to satisfy the slowly growing demand.
The lesson we learned from tasting lots of other vegan cheese products was that simply inoculating a substrate with culture(s) and watching it grow does not create a delicious cheese all on its own, and I’ve learned that with my own creations as well. I knew pretty much nothing about making any kind of cheese when I started, and that was probably for the best. I had no idea that I’d have to become a pseudo-mini-biologist, measuring temperature, humidity, pH, and other important factors that encourage the microbes to safely and properly transform into mouth- watering cultured cheeses.
Over the last 18 months or so, we’ve experimented with various wheel sizes, combinations of cultures, and different aging and processing techniques. These months of experiments have taught us much about what works and what doesn’t. Asking if it “tastes delicious” has become the very simple benchmark that we use to decide if we should continue making it.
The other simple benchmark is if people come back for more. I didn’t initially realize just how many folks are either sensitive to dairy or just want to consume less of it. We have so many people that love our cheeses and return for them repeatedly. It’s been very gratifying to witness the joy they have from being able to eat something that really tastes good and satisfies in the way people thought only dairy cheese could!
Faux-mage is what we call our collection of house-made, artisanal, plant-based cheeses. We make four different Faux-mage varieties, and the flagships are Faux-bert and Powerhouse. Faux-bert represents the initial vision of the project: a bloomed rind, aged, creamy cheese reminiscent of its dairy counterpart, Camembert. It is made from local baby butter (lima) beans and cashews and is comprised of 3-4 cultures, depending on the seasonal flavor profile desired. Its initial bloom starts at about 2-3 weeks and is lightly yeasty and buttery scented. As it further matures, the cheese develops more herbaceous notes. Fully aged (around 7-10 weeks), the nose yields fresh hay and barnyard characteristics, the flavor is more deeply pronounced and the texture more concentrated and firm. We vary the flavors to include a slightly smoky vegetable ash center or locally foraged wild mushrooms, and we grow and forage our own flowers and herbs to encrust the beautiful white, pillowy rind.
Powerhouse started out as a desire for a nutrient-rich, delicious super-food. This cheese is incredibly savory and delicious, with layers of complexity. Umami dominates—imparted by the culture, shiro miso, and koji—and is met with the brightness and spice of turmeric, local garlic, and mustard. The intense flavors are housed in an almost-whipped texture base made from Brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, and cashews. It’s great spread on veggies or crunchies, like our house-made sourdough nigella crackers. As Powerhouse ages, its young precociousness evolves into unapologetic assertiveness, pinpointed and bold. People either like it or they don’t! Most do, and some like it so much that they ask for a 16 oz container of it, so we happily oblige!
Faux-cotta is a cultured cashew version of ricotta and is reminiscent of clabbered cream. It’s amazing as is, can be melted onto anything, or combined with maple syrup or something sweet and added to desserts like fruit cobbler, scones, or biscuits. We often make a vegan “crème anglaise” from it at the restaurant.
Seasonally, we offer Faux-mozz. Modeled after burrata or fresh mozzarella, these savory, tangy, creamy spheres topped many a tomato and basil salad this past summer, surprising the heck out of our guests, who never once suspected that it wasn’t a dairy cheese!
People often assume that The Bewildered Pig is a meat-centric restaurant (or even a BBQ joint), so for us to make and serve plant-based cheeses to our guests, regardless of their culinary proclivities, completely correlates with our deliciously satirical reputation. Additionally, our provocative, ironic tendencies are reflected in the merchandising of Faux-mage: it is positioned right next to our impressive display of house-made, old world-style charcuterie like splendid pâtés, rillettes, and liver mousses, all made from heritage, locally raised pork, rabbit, lamb, and pheasant. People are pleasantly bewildered by this juxtaposition, which implies that our eating choices need not segregate us, but can rather unite by their shared roots of being made with delicious, healthy, and humane intention.
We offer Faux-mage as well as other gourmet “Pig-nic” items through the market at the restaurant. Distribution of the Faux-mage on a wholesale level requires a much more complex process, both bureaucratically and logistically. One of the key requirements is having a dedicated production facility, no matter how small the production. While this idea is a bit daunting, I cannot deny the appeal of visions of aging the Faux-bert in a coastal facility, with the fresh, briny air imparting the salt component required in the aging process.
Faux-mage has provided a wonderful way for us to engage with our community. We are a very small “mom and pop” place, and fairly logistically challenged. Since our opening in 2016, we have often been unable to participate in many community-held food events, as doing so usually requires closing the restaurant. Our remote location has also posed challenges in gathering valuable customer feedback. This year, however, we featured our cheeses at the Mendocino Film Festival and at the annual Good Farm Fund Gala. Sharing Faux-mage at these beloved events has helped us share our cheeses with over 400 people within a few hours! The overwhelmingly positive reception has been another wonderful gift.
Ultimately, the whole process has been an incredible experience. Faux-mage has grown to be a perfect union of participating with our community, as well as creating something delicious that everyone can enjoy. We feel as though we can be proud of a genuinely unique and locally-made product that fills a nutritious and celebratory niche.
It has also been a great reminder that it is often through the process of overcoming adversity that we experience positive change. No matter the reasons people like or buy our cheeses, the elation they express about having it on their table is the kind of joyful satisfaction that only a passion for food can inspire. So, every time you enjoy a bite, remember that change can be a catalyst for manifestation. It is true that food can and does unite us all.
The Market at The Bewildered Pig
1810 Highway 128, Philo | (707) 895-2088 | TheBewilderedPig.com
Open Wednesday – Saturday, 12:30pm – 5pm
