Soaked and blended, cashews become a stand-in for heavy cream, keeping stuffed shells, soups, pasta sauces, and desserts luxuriously dairy-free. Toasted and roughly chopped, they add crunch to salads, curries, stir-fries, and more. There are so many reasons to love cooking with these seeds-that's right, "cashew nut" is technically a misnomer, since they grow outside the fruit rather than inside a hard shell like true nuts.
Using watermelon seed milk as a base for vegan ricotta creates an incredibly milky flavor and delicate texture with a hint of grassiness, reminiscent of its dairy counterpart, writes chef Miyoko Schinner in her new cookbook, The Vegan Creamery (Ten Speed Press, $27). Note that the addition of cashews is an imperative, not an option, she adds. Watermelon Seed-Cashew Ricotta Makes about 1 1/2 pounds (675 g) INGREDIENTS 1 cup (140g) watermelon seed kernels 1/2 cup (70g) cashews 4 cups (950ml) water 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Our tester found the seasonings to be too overpowering, causing the natural taste of the cashew itself to be completely masked. The strong scent from the bag was also a turnoff, as was the powdery coating on the nuts, which impacted the texture. Overall, they were just too hard to eat, especially when compared to something like the Himalayan Salted Dark Chocolate Almonds, which topped the list by a long shot.
