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Elite Edition

How do they collect rennet?

Author

Andrew Henderson

Published Mar 31, 2026

How do they collect rennet?

To obtain rennet using the customary method still used by many European and traditional cheese-makers, stomachs of young calves are dried and “cleaned”, then sliced into small pieces and put into an extraction solution, which will be filtered after several days.

Do they kill a cow to make Parmesan cheese?

In the case of Parmesan, and most cheeses, that rennet is ritually procured from the one of the four stomachs of a calf. For this, the baby cow is killed merely so it’s stomach can be taken and split open, dried, cut into cubes and added to the cheese mixture to curdle it.

Are dairy cows killed for meat?

Lives Cut Short. Nearly all cows used for dairy in the U.S. are eventually killed and butchered for human consumption.

What can be used instead of rennet?

Alternatives that can achieve the same result as rennet include vinegar and lemon juice. Other options are to acquire “vegetable rennet” made from one of several plants (thistle, nettle and mallow, to name a few), or “microbial rennet” acquired from mold.

Are there any cheeses that do not contain rennet?

Paneer and cottage cheese is traditionally made without rennet and is instead coagulated with an acidic ingredient like vinegar or lemon juice. Artisan cheeses from specific areas may be vegetarian. Cornish Yarg, which is wrapped in nettles, usually uses vegetarian rennet, although their cheeses for the US export market may contain animal rennet.

How is rennet extracted from the calf?

Rennet is extracted from the inner mucosa of the fourth stomach chamber of young, un-weaned calves. These calf stomachs are a by-product of veal production (which is an off-shoot of dairy production).

How is rennet to be used?

Rennet is used to separate milk into solid curds (for cheesemaking) and liquid whey, and so it or a substitute is used in the production of most cheeses . One of the main actions of rennet is its protease chymosin cleaving the kappa casein chain. Casein is the main protein of milk.