Calcium Carbonate - As a Rennet Aid (Instead Of Calcium Chloride)?

[alvinco]

I am a newbie living in Manila, Philippines. I can't find any food grade calcium chloride. Available in drugstores were calcium lactate(lactic acid), calcium citrate(citric acid). Thanks for any info. 

[wharris]

I don't think so.

[the_stain]

Calcium Carbonate reacts with (and therefore neutralizes) acids quite well, and therefore I don't think it would be appropriate to use in cheesemaking because you need the acid.

Unfortunately, I also do not believe Calcium Citrate will give you the result (adding free calcium ions to the solution) that is desired as it does not have the solubility of CaCl2 or CaCO3.

[linuxboy]

I second that. Calcium citrate solubility is 0.085 g/100 mL, vs 74.5 g/100mL for calcium chloride. You want to restore the Ca2+ ion balance in the milk, that's why you're adding it in the first place, and the citrate just doesn't dissolve well enough into ionic solution. The carbonate will act as a buffer, so it's unusable as well.

Can you find some cacl2 on ebay and have it shipped internationally, then make your own 30% solution? That stuff lasts forever once in solution, but make sure you dehydrate the cacl2 for accurate measurement.

[Cheese Head]

Alvin, great replies already, my only 2 cents is that while it's helps with getting a good curd set with pasteurized milk, it is not critical, you may just need a little extra rennet. So don;t let a lack of CaCl2 slow you down . . .

[alvinco]

Thanks guys for all your input.

[MDSKPR]

is it true that according to this it is possible to use calcium acetate instead of calcium chloride?: http://www.codexalimentarius.net/gsfaonline/foods/details.html?id=24

on the LONG list Calcium acetate IS listed....

[newbie001]

Find a chemical supply company. I am certain that you can get bulk orders of calcium chloride. I am from Thailand and we can get it quite easily. What we cannot get is rennet.

The cheesecompany will ship internationally if you have a credit card. They have been very helpful to me.

[sominus]

Another thought would be pickling lime (calcium hydroxide).  I used to make something called "Kalkwasser" for my salt water aquarium using this -- it was vital for invertebrates and live rock culturing.

I don't know anything about the chemistry of this as it applies to cheesemaking, but it might be worth some research...

-Michael

[mrawlins]

Most calcium compounds will only dissolve in very acidic environments, and in doing so they neutralize acid.  Calcium chloride is best at dissolving in neutral or slightly acidic environments (like milk).  If your target pH is somewhere around 3 then you may be able to use some of the other calciums, like carbonate or citrate, but I don't know of any cheese that gets to that level of acidity before adding rennet.

I've tried using calcium citrate for cheesemaking (with Junket rennet, because those were things I could get readily for my first venture).  It seemed to be a bit helpful, though my first few cheeses were very hodge-podge soft cheeses anyway.

Overall I would say if you can't get calcium chloride it's not worth adding the calcium, and you'll want to find other ways of improving the rennet activity.