DIY Vegetable rennet for cheese making

[sumi]

I have been interested in cheese making for quite some time, but was a bit put off by the origin of traditional and most readily available rennet (traditional rennet is made from the stomach of a calf, kid or lamb) While on FB the other day, I spotted something about "nettle rennet" and decided to look into that a bit more… Well, great news is, you CAN make rennet from nettles and other weeds!

First off, why do we need rennet for cheese making? Rennet is an enzyme that coagulates warmed milk, making the curds. Any warm milk will coagulate on it’s own, if left, but that’s usually after it's already turned sour. Rennet coagulates milk when it fresh, coagulates the milk faster and produces a firmer curd.

Now, plant rennet…

It is fairly easy to make plant rennet yourself from several different plants, including purple thistle, stinging nettle, melon, fig, and safflower. Also, the purple thistle head from an artichoke works well, but purple thistle rennet can only be used with goat’s milk or sheep’s milk. It makes cow’s milk bitter.

The how-to… Making vegetable rennet from purple thistle

1. Pick the thistle flower head when it has turned brown, but harvest it before the plant produces the thistle down.

2. Dry the flower heads well, pick off the stamens (purple threads) and store these in a sterile, dry jar with a tight sealing lid.

3. When ready to make rennet, grind up the dried stamens with either a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder. You will need about 5 tablespoons of powder.

4. Add warm water (not too hot) to the powdered stamens and let sit for about 10 minutes. The water will turn a murky brown colour.

5. Strain off the liquid. What is left is now thistle flower rennet.

6. This rennet can be added to warmed milk to curdle it and begin the cheese making process.


Vegetable rennet made from salted nettle

1. Pick nettles before they go to seed.

2. Fill a large saucepan with about 2 pounds of nettles and 4 cups of water. Bring this to a light boil and let it simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Add 1 heaped tablespoon of salt and stir to dissolve. The salt helps draw out the enzyme locked in the nettle leaves.

4. Strain the plant material from the liquid, which is now nettle rennet. Use 1 cup of nettle rennet liquid to about 1 gallon of milk.

Note: When using the nettle rennet, the amount of salt used in further cheese making (after curds have formed) should be less because of the salt added during the extraction of the rennet.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Great info! Thanks, Sumi!

 

[baymule]

We have some really nasty nettles here called Texas Bull Nettles. If you ever tangle with one, you will remember it all your life. They are terrible. The idea of eating or drinking something made with these things doesn't exactly inspire me!

 

[sumi]

@baymule does the term "revenge" mean anything to you? Boil up that nasty thing!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Sumi, I like the way you think!

 

[baymule]

I hate those things, I really, really hate them!

 

[lcertuche]

Good to know. I have a lot of huge plants with beautiful flowers. I don't have any milking animals (yet) but I think I will pick some for future use. I have recently became interested in foraging.

 

[chefsdreams]

i love this thread. i have wanted to try cheese making for years. i really like the idea and would love to give it a try. we have a couple of months left of winter here (and i don't think we've seen the worst yet). so maybe i'll use this time to get my supplies together. you guys! so many great ideas.

 

[sumi]

I thought the vegetable rennet idea would appeal to those who are "unhappy" with where rennet traditionally comes from. Or those unable to get rennet easily. I was unable to when I wanted to make cheese once, a few years ago. I must confess I STILL didn't make cheese. I do not have space where I am at the moment, but it's high on my to-do list for when I have a bigger kitchen/house again.

 

[Britesea]

Here is something I found about vegetable rennets:

One plant that can be used for a rennet is stinging nettle (urtica gracilis). To make, boil a pound of stinging nettle in just enough water to cover for twenty to thirty minutes. Strain off the liquid and add as much salt as will dissolve with agitation. With home-brewed extracts, it's difficult to know how much of the infusion to use because of the variability of its strength and the milk's acidity. A good starting point would be one-half cup of nettle infusion per gallon of milk.

Note: the high salt content of this type of infusion makes it unsuitable for cheeses that are ripened a significant length of time after the rennet has been added because the salt inhibits the ripening characteristics of the curd. It will work best for cheeses that are salted shortly after the curd has formed, and less salt will be needed during the salting step.

The dried flowers of the cardus species of sunflowers can also be used. Dry the blossoms and grind them to powder with a mortar and pestle. Dissolve a couple of teaspoons of the powder in one-half cup of water, then add the infusion to the milk the same as if using a rennet solution.(since this one does not use salt, it might be usable in situations where the nettle rennet is not)