Hmm.... I've actually worked on/toured several dairies that produce cheese, and the cheesemakers there told me that almost all cheese these days is made with vegetable rennet. This is because calf rennet is highly variable and doesn't yield a predictable enough product for the standardization-obsessed modern world. I've been told that pretty much the only people who still use calf rennet are artisan cheese producers in Europe. So.. I don't know for sure, but might be worth some further investigating. And of course another plug for farmer's markets where you can actually ask the farmer yourself.
That's good to know about the Rennet. I get most of my info from Wikipedia, much less reliable than an actual farmer. Plus, I like the idea of people going to farmers' markets and asking the farmers what kind of rennet they use. That'd be awesome!
Hey Bradley, speaking of soy cheeses, a while ago, Rafe and you had mentioned this cookbook, Wild Fermentation by Sandorkraut. Rafe told me there is a recipe for non-dairy cheese in there, and indeed, on his website he lists Chapter 7: Dairy Ferments (and Vegan Alternatives). I desperately want to get this cookbook but money is really short right now. I was wondering if you or Rafe could e-mail me the recipe(s) for non-dairy cheese?? I wanna see what he does to make it different from tofu, and then I'll buy the book in the fall when money is not so crazy tight. My e-mail is fdfisher AT gwu DOT com.
Just a quick correction. Stinky tofu isn't always soft. In fact, it comes in a large number of varieties. In the south, you can buy it on the street after it has been deep-fried in oil. Also, there's also a super-firm, rubbery kind of Chinese tofu called "ganzi" which is usually sliced into strips and stir fried with vegetables. You can also get "chou gan" (stinky ganzi), like the ones stir fried with red peppers in this picture here.
Jon, I'm glad you read my post; I was thinking about asking you about this stuff. What does the stinky tofu taste like?? And ganzi, very interesting, do you know how it's made differently? I wonder if it's made with terra alba. I need to go to China and try all this stuff!!
It turns out that most of the bacteria used to age cheese will not grow on soy milk. For example, a lot of cheese recipes involve using kefir as a starter for the bacteria. The kefir grains are filtered out of the milk before it's coagulated and placed in new milk so they will continue to grow. They can be washed off in water and added to soymilk to give soymilk an aged flavor, but when they are siphoned out they have to be put back into cow's milk or they will die. This website, http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/vegmilk.html#rejuvelac has a recipe for something called rejuvelac, which is basically grain sprouts, ground up and fermented in water for 2 days. You
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So.. I don't know for sure, but might be worth some further investigating. And of course another plug for farmer's markets where you can actually ask the farmer yourself.
But man, soy cheese expermenting sounds way cool!
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That's good to know about the Rennet. I get most of my info from Wikipedia, much less reliable than an actual farmer. Plus, I like the idea of people going to farmers' markets and asking the farmers what kind of rennet they use. That'd be awesome!
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It turns out that most of the bacteria used to age cheese will not grow on soy milk. For example, a lot of cheese recipes involve using kefir as a starter for the bacteria. The kefir grains are filtered out of the milk before it's coagulated and placed in new milk so they will continue to grow. They can be washed off in water and added to soymilk to give soymilk an aged flavor, but when they are siphoned out they have to be put back into cow's milk or they will die. This website, http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/vegmilk.html#rejuvelac has a recipe for something called rejuvelac, which is basically grain sprouts, ground up and fermented in water for 2 days. You ( ... )
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