August 9th, 2007
So I just made a disturbing discovery: cheese contains rennet, which is an enzyme derived largely from the stomachs of cows and used as a coagulant. I did not even know rennet existed until just a few days ago. Now I’m a little worried – will I have to give up cheese?
I know there are vegetable rennet sources, but so far I’m not sure how to identify them. I looked at some cheeses at the grocery store yesterday and they contain “microbial enzymes” mainly. Does that mean rennet, or a vegetable source? Apparently the veg sources make cheese taste bitter, particularly if the cheese is aged.
This is ominous indeed. I love cheese and eat quite a lot of it – it’s become a staple of my vegetarian diet. I particularly enjoy very old cheddar (the crumbly kind) and certain blue cheeses – glorious, glorious mold! Losing cheese from my diet would be tragic to say the least. Ignorance was bliss – now I may have to quit cheese.
I’m new to this rennet thing. I’ve looked it up on Wikipedia and will spend some time googling it later today, but if anyone out there knows about it and wants to share, I’d be pleased to hear from you.
It would take more than rennet to make me give up cheese.