My New Endeavor

I'm going to make some vegan cheeses.  I tried to make one or two recipes from Miyoko Schinner's Artisan Vegan Cheese book when I first got it a few years ago, but almost every recipe involves so many steps plus fermentation that they take days to make and it just didn't seem worth the work.  Also I didn't know what I was doing and was afraid fermentation might go awry and the food would just go bad.  Now I have more time on my hands during which I can't leave my house, plus increased patience and experience with fermentation from all the sourdough making.  Plus eating dairy cheese seems to make me gain weight faster than anything, while snacking on (store-bought) vegan cheese, no matter how fatty, doesn't seem to have the same effect. 

I flipped through the book today and realized this is why there is an open bag of xanthum gum in my freezer.  I have most of the ingredients for many of the recipes in this book.  The sharp cheddar is the first one that jumped out at me for which I have all the ingredients, so I'm going to make that one first.  The first step is to make rejuvelac, which takes several days in itself.  The first step for rejuvelac is to soak and sprout some whole grain.  I chose millet because I have plenty and have yet to find an appealing recipe in which to use it (I think I originally bought it to mill into flour, but I can't remember why).  So I have a cup of millet soaking until tonight, at which point I have to rinse it out and sprout it for a few days just like with the broccoli seeds.  I think the last time I tried this I hadn't yet successfully sprouted anything, so it should be easier this time around.  This is a picture of where it's at today:  millet soaking in water.  That's it.