50 culturecheesemag.com THE HOT LIS T 202 3
I spent the last three months of 2022 researching
and documenting what is possibly the least
studied and most overlooked ingredient in cheese:
rennet. After applying for three years, I received a
scholarship known as the Daphne Zepos Teaching
Award (DZTA)—one of two offered annually for
cheese professionals to gather information from
around the world to share in North America—
which allowed me to expand my ongoing cheese
travel adventure, called Milk Trekker, with a
focus on rennet. There are three categories of this
key element that coagulates milk: plant (thistle,
fig, nettle), synthetic (100 percent chymosin,
microbial), and animal. During my travels I have
met very few cheesemakers who still make their
own rennet. I felt an important link had been
lost, and I wanted to visit some of the refuges of
traditional rennet making, explore the range of
rennet types, and ask how modern cheesemakers
can put this knowledge to beneficial use.
Lamb abomasums
f rom a Basque
cheesemaker's flock
hang to dry
