BEGINNINGS 2024 culturecheesemag.com 39
Vegetarian Cheese
We hate to burst your bubble, f riends, but most cheese is not actually vegetarian. In
cheesemaking, milk is coagulated using animal rennet, which originates f rom the stomach
lining of a calf, lamb, or kid. That said, several vegetarian cheeses in the marketplace today boast
an ever-evolving landscape of renneting options, including vegetarian coagulants such as fungi
Mucor miehei and Aspergillus niger var. awamori.
Rimes prefers using thistle rennet to make her Brefu Bach. According to her, this rennet isn't
only a more natural plant-based option, but it's also less potent than animal rennet, helping the
lactic cheese retain its soft curd formation.
Other plant-based alternatives include fermentation-produced chymosin, a rennet substitute
produced by DSM Food Specialties in the Netherlands and Chr. Hansen in Denmark. The rennet,
while made with GE technology, contains no GMOs; rather, it is made using a process similar
to GM-derived plant-based meat. A host organism—usually Aspergillus niger var. awamori or
Kluyveromyces lactis—is genetically modified to express the sought-after enzyme through
fermentation. The resulting rennet is stronger than thistle rennet, making it a better choice for
hard cheeses. It is forbidden in France, as it does not conform with the legal definition of rennet,
but it is used f requently in UK cheese production of vegetarian cheddars, among other styles.
Clockwise f rom left: Caws Calan; Rimes
inspecting racks of her Brefu Bach;
and Olwyn Fawr and Caws Chwaral at
various stages of aging.
