Making

Cheese Making Homepage

Cheese Making Steps

Basic Principles
Milk:
◦ Types
◦ Processing
◦ Yield
◦ Products
Acidification
Starter Cultures:
◦ Function
◦ Manufacturers
◦ Manufactured Products
Lipases
Colourants:
◦ General
◦ Annatto
Acids
Coagulation
Calcium Chloride
Rennets:
◦ Animal
◦ Plant
◦ Microbial
◦ Fermentation
Milk Additives
Curd:
◦ When to Cut
◦ How to Cut
Salt:
◦ Function
◦ Types
◦ Salting Curds
◦ Salting Rinds
Pressing Curds
Brine:
◦ Making
◦ Using
◦ Maintaining
◦ For Preserving
Turning Cheeses
Ripening
Rinds:
◦ General
◦ Natural
◦ Ash

Defects

General:
◦ Coagulation
◦ Surface
◦ Body
◦ Aroma
◦ Flavour
Specific:
◦ Blue Mould
◦ White Mould

Equipment

Books
Cheese Caves
Cheesecloths
Hygrometers
Mats
Miscellaneous
pH Meters
Scales
Vats (Stockpots)
Thermometers

Fermentation Based Rennet

This webpage is divided into the following topics:

1. General
2. Formats
3. Concentration
4. Storage
5. Amount
6. Preparation

General

Until 1990, the only source of chymosin was calves. Around 1990, scientists created a system to make chymosin that doesn't require calves. Using genetic engineering, the gene for chymosin was cut from a calf cell and inserted into the genomes of bacteria and yeasts such as Kluyveromyces lactis. The microbes replicate and grow rapidly, can be grown continuously, and make an exact copy of calf chymosin.

This product is often certified Halal or Kosher and suitable for vegetarians.

Approximately 70% of the cheese made in the U.S. is coagulated using fermentation produced chymosin.

It can be argued that these rennets are not genetically engineered as nothing was changed in the gene.

Formats

Fermentation produced rennet is normally available in concentrated liquid and powder formats.

Concentration

Fermentation produced rennet is 100% pure chymosin however it can be combined with pepsin to make a more natural animal based type product.

Storage

Amount

As rennet can come in different strengths, any specified amount of rennet in a cheese making procedure should be overwritten and the amount of rennet used per volume of milk should be based initially on the manufacturer's directions, either on package or from their website (many of these files are posted in CheeseForum.org's Library) and with experience and results based on the users experience with the type of milk they are using.

Preparation