A few months ago it came out that some cheese manufacturers weren’t putting any actual Parmesan cheese in their grated Parmesan cheese. They were using wood cellulose, however, and other cheaper cheeses, and creating a product that no one really likes.

Now, this doesn’t affect me, or hopefully you, because we don’t eat animal products. But that doesn’t mean we don’t crave a bit of “Parmesan-cheesy” something to sprinkle on pasta and veggies. Luckily, we don’t have to go without, and this recipe is much better tasting than those cans of grated Parmesan-like cheese from the store and much better for you.

There are a number of similar recipes online that I mashed and tweaked to come up with this one. I use almonds instead of walnuts, which seem to be more common, but I find the almonds don’t have that slightly bitter flavour. Definitely use walnuts or experiment with other nuts if that is all you have on hand.

Vegan almond “parm”

• 1 cup almonds
• 1 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard

Pulse all ingredients together at slow speed in a high-powered blender until almonds are finely ground, but not long enough for them to become almond butter. Yield: about 2 cups. Store in refrigerator.

I don’t know how long this will last in the fridge. This gets sprinkled on just about everything at our house and I make a new batch about every week or so.