Submitted by Kate Johnson and Kelly Liebrock of The Art of Cheese in Longmont, CO February 21, 2023 Rennet is an important ingredient in cheesemaking and is the main coagulant used for most cheeses. If you’re curious about exactly what rennet is and how it works, you can get much of that info in our article “What is Rennet and Why Do You Need It?.”
Thistle Rennet: Exciting New Product!
When we first posted the article about Making Rennet from Fig Sap, we had many inquiries in the comments section about making rennet from thistle. At the time, 2011, there was very little info available about it, so we didn’t pursue the subject. Now, 6 years later, there is finally a non-GMO thistle rennet, made in the US and available for home cheese makers –
More About Fig Sap “Rennet”
4 years ago, I posted an article I thought was whey out in left field – Making Rennet From Fig Sap?!! Our company sells a wide variety of rennets, but none of them are made from fig sap. It seemed like a very obscure method (although I did find in my research that it is 30 to 100 more powerful than anything else used to
Philippines – Part 1: Making Rennet
Recently, we were happy to receive pictures and lots of information about making cheese in the province of Iloilo, Philippines from a courageous woman who is trying to help her inlaws make better use of their resources (goats). She is camera-shy, so we don’t have any pictures of her, but she did send some others along with her descriptions of the work she is doing.
Why Not Junket?
For desserts – yes. For cheese – no. There are a lot of cheese making websites where Junket tablets are routinely used in place of rennet. (The best known is probably David P. Fankhauser, PhD’s site.) This practice is widely applied because Junket tablets are available in most supermarkets and they are slightly less expensive than actual rennet tablets or liquid rennets. I’ve noticed lately
Making Rennet From Fig Sap?!!
I wrote this last month, so you can chalk it up to March Madness! We get kind of crazy around here at the end of a long, hard winter! But, here’s the thing-folks are always asking us how they can make their own rennet. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because so many home cheese makers are dyed-in-the-wool do-it-yourselfers. So, I was going to do