Rennet Alternatives

[ltimmis80]

Before I begin can I just say, I love cheese. I have yet to find a type of cheese I do not like. Therefore, I thought I would try to make my own.

I am not against the idea of using rennet per se but I would like to try without it. I have read that you can use citric acid to curdle the milk but wouldn't this give the cheese a citrusy flavour?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Laura T x

[Martin Fisher]

What type of cheese do you want to make?

[Ttogull]

Homemade cheese is great. You don't say why you are avoiding rennet, but I thought I'd mention vegetable rennet in case you weren't aware of it.

http://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Vegetable-Rennet-2-oz/dp/B0064OLJ1K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385766290&sr=8-1&keywords=Vegetarian+rennet

[annabelle]

Not to take away from the OPs question, but I can't seem to find regular rennet at all. A little help?

Never mind. I found it in your link.

Edited November 30, 2013 by annabelle (log)

[Smithy]

i recently made my first batch of ricotta. The curdling agent was plain white vinegar, instead of citric acid or rennet. (Temperature was also important.) I actually found myself wondering whether it would have had more character if I'd used citric acid instead, possibly a more flavored vinegar like white wine vinegar. YMMV.

[Rebecca263]

Citric acid is sour, in fact, sour salt IS citric acid. It is usually not from citrus, there is some kind of mold that is cultivated for the citric acid it produces.

anyway, citric acid activates the sour taste receptors on your tongue, but nothing else, so you will not get a citrus flavor when you use it in your cheese making. I hope that you get great results from your cheese making adventures!

[tsp.]

Pretty sure lemon / vinegar will only work for simple cheeses like paneer (acid coagulation). However, there are plenty of rennet alternatives - Google Fermentation produced chymosin (FPC) - pretty sure most commercial cheeses use it.

[ltimmis80]

Thanks for the replies. I will let you know how I get on. Will probably start off with a simple paneer and then work my way up

[pbear]

Thanks for the replies. I will let you know how I get on. Will probably start off with a simple paneer and then work my way up

It's been many years since I tried making rennet cheese - and I ended up deciding it was more work than it was worth - but it's important to understand that panir isn't anything like rennet cheese. They're as different as apples and oranges. Both are good for their intended uses, but not interchangable. Nor is panir a stepping stone to rennet-based cheese. They're completely different things.

[tsp.]

They're not that dissimilar, paneer, cream cheese, rubing etc. are just acid set. They're both coagulating milk.