Monterey Jack Cheese Making Recipe - Adding Salt To Rennet?

[bbracken677]

I have read several Monterey Jack recipes that called for adding a teaspoon of salt to the rennet solution...is this truly part of the Monterey Jack methodology? 200 Easy Homemade cheese recipes does not add salt until after pressing, by brining. I tend to favor that approach, but would like to make sure I am making something that approximates a Jack.
Seems rather odd...First you add salt, which would slow down acidification, and then you cook the curds (at 100F) which would further slow down acidification.
Furthermore, you apparently salt the curds before pressing (at least in the 2 recipes I just read).

[Check6]

This was a great question 7 1/2 years ago, and I have this exact quest today. Anyone have a answer 3/4 of a decade later?

[Thewitt]

Makes no sense to me at all.

[River Bottom Farm]

Ran into the answer in another post but can't find it now. It was a hold over from using animal vells for rennet you had to add salt to preserve the rennet or it would go bad. Not needed anymore it's just a left over from way back

[Check6]

I think it must be an archaic method carried forward in some current recipes. They actually call for a tsp of salt added to the water you dilute the rennet in. Another post  I found on here gave a link to a recipe that was similar and described it as a means to keep the curds more moist. The rest of the salt was added after draining, or you brined it after pressing. Strange indeed, but it makes me want to experiment with it  :-)

[River Bottom Farm]

Found it: http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,6750.msg47927.html#msg47927

[Thewitt]

We dried and salt-cured calf stomachs (vells) growing up to preserve the rennet, but never salted the resulting reconstituted rennet before use.