Dairy Glossary

Rennet: Renett is an enzyme which makes milk coagulate, or glump together. It is used in almost all cheese recipes. Originally, people got rennet from the stomach of a calf, young goat (kid) or a lamb. Today, cheesemakers can use animal based rennet or a vegetable based rennet. Vegetable based rennet is made in a laboratory. Vegetarians sometimes will only eat cheese made with vegetable rennet.

Starter Culture: A starter culture is a bacterial culture. The bacteria live on the sugar, or lactose, in the milk. They eat it, and make lactic acid. The little bacteria are very busy, and make a lot of lactic acid,