For some, the most difficult thing to give up when going Paleo or AIP is not bread but rather CHEESE. There is nothing quite like the rich, creamy, melty, stretchy, umami experience of cheese. There are already a lot of dairy-free Paleo cheese recipes out there, and zucchini cheese is popular for those on the AIP, but let me tell you, NONE of those recipes are anything like what I am sharing with you today: tapioca cheese, the best dairy-free Paleo and AIP cheese!
It melts without dissolving, and stretches, and will even brown. It was one of the best kitchen accidents I've ever had! This recipe was previously only available in my debut print cookbook Latin American Paleo Cooking. It's called Queso Blanco (white cheese) in the book to fit with Spanish recipe names and appears on page 170.
This truly is the best dairy-free Paleo and AIP cheese I've ever eaten....and I think this is going to make a HUGE impact, especially in the AIP community. I know how hard it can be and how limited it can feel to have to adhere to the AIP elimination phase, so it is just so amazing that this is compliant!
Tapioca cheese looks, feels, and acts just like fresh mozzarella. It has a mild flavor that works both as a topping for pizza and other savory dishes, and even in some dessert recipes as well! The Aborrajados de Platano (page 64) of my cookbook (VIDEO BELOW!)are one of my new favorite healthy desserts thanks to this Paleo and AIP cheese recipe.
A Kitchen Fail Turned Fantastic Discovery
One of the key dessert recipes in my cookbook is Tembleque (page 136), a traditional Puerto Rican coconut milk pudding and one of my husbands favorites. Traditionally it is made using corn starch, so when I was working on making a strict Paleo and AIP version, I said, "hey, why not try tapioca starch in its place?"
Well....what happened is that I ended up making this weird sweet cheese-like stuff. It was kind of awful, but I knew immediately that I had discovered something utterly amazing with how tapioca starch behaves when heated with coconut milk.
So I tested, and tested, and eventually discovered the perfect ratio of tapioca starch to coconut milk, with the minimum ingredients necessary to give it that flavor just like fresh mozzarella cheese. You only need 4 additional ingredients for this recipe!
Part of why I think this is the best dairy-free Paleo and AIP cheese ever developed is how FAST and EASY it is to make. Seriously, it comes together from start to clean up in 10 minutes.