Adding rennet with Cultures

[steffb503]

I was reading through a recipe for Gouda and it calls for adding the rennet along with the culture. I am wondering what this brings to the final cheese.

[linuxboy]

DVI freeze dried or frozen?

[steffb503]

pretty sure it was DVI

[linuxboy]

Which DVI? DVI freeze dried, or DVI frozen? It makes a difference. You can use frozen like this, but not freeze dried.

[steffb503]

It is freeze dried. The recipe is Margret Morris and it calls for adding them together. I have not made this cheese but was wondering how it effects the final cheese. I have only done this with a fresh cheese like Chevre.

[linuxboy]

It's an odd practice IMHO. DVI really needs about an hour to wake up, and putting it in with the rennet means it might not be fully distributed in the milk by the time coagulation sets in. Without even distribution, the cells become trapped and the pH profile would differ in the vat among areas. Washing would help mitigate this, but still not the best practice.

I could see doing it with bulk or frozen, that wouldn't be so bad. Toss it in, do a good stir and done.