Being a relative newbie, I've never really paid much attention to my rennet. Missy did make me look into it a bit. My gut says that Carter is right with the perservative part, but as for flavor? Jeez I dunno. In the past, I've used both animal and vegetable rennet without much regard to rennet ingrediants or cheese application. I get my rennet from Dairyconnection.com or Leeners (10 miles from my home.)
This thread, however, is very timely as I read this last night: (yes, i have a stack of 'stuff' next to my bed to read at night)
"There is a range of animal, microbial and recombinant rennets to choose from... Calf rennet, high in chymosin, has beenused traditionally for Cheddar cheese production. The advantage of using a high chymosin content calf rennet is that the flavour and the texture of aged Cheddar are more predictable, with less bitterness. The same could be said for the recombinant chymosins. However,some customers have strong aversions to the use of genetically engineered ingredients in cheese. Some cheese manufacturers are now investigating the use of microbial rennets, which provide the added advantage of being suitable for Kosher, Halal and some vegetarian products. In addition, use of microbial rennets in Cheddar cheese production opens up the options for downstream whey products (whey protein concentrates, milk protein concentrates, etc.)."
While I have some questions about the genetic engineering aspects of the natural animal rennet, I do believe that I will be using that exclusively.
And btw, my wife just looked over my shoulder as I type this. This, combined with my nightly readings...
Well, I just got called a "cheese-nerd"
Made me smile.