Best culture and vegetable rennet ?

[Raman]

I am from india and i dont find any good quality rennet and thermophelic culture for fresh cow mozzarella cheese to be supplied to pizzerias in the area. Please suggest some so that i can get a supply from some other country probably .
Thanks ,
Raman

[mikekchar]

I've had very good success buying from cheesemaking.com.  I live in Japan and I received things in less than 1 week, even during Covid.   Of course, you have to pay a *lot* for shipping, so it's best to buy a lot.  Jim Wallace's Burrata recipe (which is basically the same as mozzarella) calls for Danisco TM81, which I think is a good choice.  It's got streptocarpus thermophilus (ST) and lactobacillus delbruecki subsp bulgaricus.  So basically it's a Bulgarian style yogurt.  I *really* like that kind of culture for these kinds of cheeses.  One good thing about it is that it's quite a fast acidifier and so it will reduce the amount of time it takes to make mozzarella.  It also has a really nice flavour (or at least the Bulgarian yogurt where I live does).  It's quite expensive ($28), but that's for 125 DCU.  1 DCU is good for 10 - 20 liters of milk (depending on how much you decide to use), so one pouch is good for up to 2500 liters of milk.  Even with shipping, it means that the cost per liter of milk is virtually zero.

For rennet, it really depends on what volumes you are going to be making.  For home cheese making, single strength liquid rennet is very convenient.  But it's also fairly expensive.  Powder or tablets are much cheaper if you are going to be doing commercial volumes.  But again, it's much better to buy as much as you can afford since the majority of the cost will just be shipping.  For liquid, their "Chymosin Rennet" their pint bottle is good for 2900 liters of milk and costs $38.  That's probably the cheapest option for the rennet itself, but shipping may be very expensive.  100 of the Vegetable Rennet tables are $40 and is good for about 1500 liters of milk.  So it's twice as expensive, but *might* even out on the shipping.  If you are doing smaller volumes of cheese, then the 2 oz liquid rennet will definitely be cheaper -- especially because you can use exact amounts rather than using quarter tablets, etc.

But I'm quite sure you'll be able to get something to do something on the order of 2500 liters of milk for a little over $100 USD - or only about 4 US cents per liter.  I realise the capital cost may be quite a difficult burden, but on an ongoing basis, it's very, very cheap.

[Raman]

Wow , thanks !
This just solved my problem as I will be commercialising the cheese and have to use enough milk . Say more than 1000 ltr per day of raw cow milk . And 3 INR with a ltr of milk isnt a huge cost . Thanks a lot again

[not_ally]

Just a couple of cautionary notes, hopefully they will not be discouraging, just wanted you to be aware of them/not taken by surprise. You will likely have to pay a hefty customs fee as well, which very irritatingly they charge after the package arrives. Ie; they wont release it to you until you pay. It is assessed on the cost of the package *plus* postage (which also sucks) at some percentage which I frankly don't understand how they assess.

I am ashamed of how much I spent on my stuff in a country with so much need and don't really want to admit it (in my defense, it is my only hobby, it will keep me going until I get back to the US, maybe a year+ and I spend little on anything else) but am going to give you the totals so you can plan/estimate better. My total cost from NEC on my last package, including postage, was $387.00. Customs charged 16k INR on top of that, so about $220 more.  I was shocked at the customs fee, I think I would have ordered less, or at least differently, if I'd been expecting it. And they held the package hostage at the office until I paid it (again, without refrigeration!) so I just went ahead and did.

Which is why I still think you might want to check with other Indian cheesemakers to see if they have advice for you. I hope they would be kind and smart enough to know that working together is good for everyone. Although I have no interest in commercial cheesemaking, in a country like India it makes sense for smaller makers to work together to find/create cheaper but good domestic sources for rennet and cultures, or maybe international sources with reliable products but less punitive customs agreements in place if there are such things.

Also, if you are ordering rennet, I agree powdered/tablet is safer. My package took three weeks to get to me (but in Kerala, I think yours will be faster) and my liquid rennet is a little wonky, I don't know if that is because it was held in high storage temps at PO facilities all that time but suspect it is possible.  I haven't tried the tablets yet, but from all accounts they are less susceptible to temperature issues, within reason.

[Raman]

I see your point of working together with other cheesemakers here in India . I met one of them through the forum only and he told me what kind of pain it is to order rennet and culture in the country coz we dont have any inhouse substitute of these products and about the 50% additional cost attached to buying these products through postage . And cheesemaking apart from making paneer (an Indian cheese) isnt really a thing here . We dont have much small cheesemakers as of my knowledge but anyway I will try to find some of them , thanks for the advice .
And hopefully i will one day start producing cheese here at price fair enough to get margins !
P.S Once you reach US we will start a import export business of the same (LOL) .

[not_ally]

They are out there, Raman, I promise, if you google. One of my hopes, if I can ever get away for a bit, is to see if I can do a short internship-type thing at Auroville, they are one of the most well known Indian cheesemakers (although an international/mixed community) just because I think it would be really cool. You've probably heard of it, it is an intentional community near Pune. Really  interesting place which - as I understand it - lets people do short or long live/work stints in various areas and I think if you have the time to visit (I know you must be busy with your business) it might be a good connection.  Plus they make more continental type cheeses than almost anyone else here, so a good place to get hands-on experience with different types. Not sure what is going on there with the virus, though.

[Raman]

Virus isnt a problem here in India , Indian politics is ...
Anyway thankyou .... Let me look into this and i will surely start to sell my cheese in market 

[not_ally]

"Virus isnt a problem here in India , Indian politics is ..."

Couldn't  agree more!  Re politics. The virus is as scary here as everywhere else, so I am happy that here in Kerala everyone pretty much wears masks because they know that they will face real consequences (fines, jail) otherwise.

[Raman]