Liquid Animal Rennet - 2 oz.

After watching way too much of the Food network, I got inspired to make homemade pizza with my own dough, own sauce, and make my own mozzarella cheese. While the sauce and dough didn’t seem too daunting a task, I didn’t even have an idea of where to start on the cheese, so I went to the blogosphere and did some heavy duty research. I found a recipe, and decided to go with this particular brand of Animal Rennet, Citric Acid Powder - Ultra Fine Pure Powdered Crystals - Natural Preservative Food Grade Quality (16 oz) , and some fancy milk I got at an artisanal dairy shop in my neighborhood. I gave it a try, and W-O-W. I cannot believe the results! I actually made really delicious mozzarella cheese to put onto my pizza, and it was a really fun project. I saw that lots of people had written that they were only able to use the rennet once, so I was a bit nervous that this cheesemaking may be too expensive of a hobby for me, but luckily for me, it worked just as good as it did the first time. Maybe the company read all the reviews and updated their product, or maybe it’s because I refrigerated it in a low temperature fridge— I’m not sure. Anyway, it works really well and I recommend it for five stars. ALSO—in other DIY news, that citric acid that I bought also works really amazingly for a whole host of things. I used that in making the cheese, making some preserves, and next week I’m going to give bath bombs a try. I also heard that it’s good for cleaning, but I haven’t had time to give it a whirl yet.

Store in refrigerator or freezer until using completely.

We've used this rennet in several batches of cheese now and find it is effective but much harder to use and control than the dry tablets. Overall we're pretty pleased to be able to be making our own cheese, however, and expect we'll get much more proficient with time. It's hard to know what issues we experience due to product versus our own inexperience!

This is the second bottle of liquid animal rennet I have purchased. My mistake, I left the last one in the cabinet and didn't store it in the refrigerator. That mistake corrected, I have now successfully made my second batch of cottage cheese. I used organic regular (not UHT) pasteurized milk and mixed it with organic heavy cream after the whey was removed. It was the best cottage cheese I have ever tasted. I am now using the whey in place of the two cups of water (1:1) in my whole grain bread recipe and the bread is much improved in taste and crumb than it used to be. I have been baking my own bread for about 15 years (5 loaves per week on average) and yesterday's loaf was by far the best loaf EVER. I definitely recommend this product. I'm also relieved that the added caramel coloring has been removed from the rennet.For anyone who is confused by all the different cottage cheese recipes, here is the easiest one I found.1/2 gallon milk in pot on stove. SLOWLY heat to 85 degrees. Remove from heat, add 8 drops rennet and stir constantly with spoon for exactly 2 minutes. Cover with clean dish towel and sit on counter for 4 hours. Gently cut slices in two directions into the curds and add 2 - 3 teaspoons of salt. Put stove back on low and wait a couple of minutes until it heats up ever so slightly and gently stir with spoon to separate curds from whey. As soon as you see the separation (you will see the whey as a yellowish liquid and the curds as white curds floating in the whey) stop stirring and take off the heat. Place strainer lined with clean dish cloth over a large bowl and pour the curds and whey into the dish cloth. Cover with plastic wrap and store in fridge for a couple of hours and then transfer curds to a glass dish. Add heavy cream in small increments and stir until desired consistency. Enjoy. Reserve the whey for use in other dishes, such as bread recipes.

Best stable rennet I have used. I use 10-12 drops mixed with 1/4 cup room temp Gerber(yes baby) distilled water. Any more rennet and you'll get a great firm set but you'll get leakage from your cheeses from the acids as they rest and a slightly bitter taste. If you don't know what this is made from, you SHOULD look it up. But sometimes it scares people off and then they go veggie rennet or tablets. Anything but liquid animal rennet will make an inferior cheese. Plus liquid animal rennet was the way cheese was originally made 1000s of years ago. You want a great product, use great ingredients. Use this for your cheese. Look for my other reviews on the Thermophilic and Mesophilic Cultures. C101 C201. They are made by cheesemaking.com but are sometimes cheaper on amazon.

The first time I made cheese, I used rennet tablets. It was a mess and hard to get exactly the right amount. I found the liquid rennet and have been using it ever since. This is my second bottle of rennet to buy and I have never had a problem with it. I have found that it lasts a really long time. I used the last of my first bottle over a year after it was opened and didn't have any problems. My second bottle definitely isn't going to last that long since I'm going through it so quickly. This is a high quality rennet that has never let me down. I'll continue to buy it for all my cheese-making endeavors. Here's a picture of some FarmHouse cheddar made with this rennet.

5 stars because it really works, 6 drops was all it took. FUN. No bitterness and the initial product is similar to queso fresco. When allowed to drain the curds are delicious, squeeks when chewed, just like the cheese curds of cheese makers in Banden oregon.