Vegeren

[Oddley]

I have just bought some liquid vegeren (they didn't have the tablets) the instructions say to use 10 drops per 1 pint of milk for cheese making.

So I would have to use 160 drops per 2 gallons of milk. Is this right, or can you use less for a larger quantity of milk.

I don't really care about using 160 drops just don't want to use too much.

[jenny_haddow]

Hi Oddley,

I use two teaspoons of vegeren for a gallon. Works for me.

Cheers

Jen

It can come out of the bottle at quite a rate so counting 160 could be a task and a half!

[Rik vonTrense]

You can safely use an egg spoon (half the size of a teaspoon) per gallon of milk.

The maxims are that Half a teaspoon of liquid rennet whether animal or vegetable will set two gallons of milk. Allways dilute in cool water.

The shelf life of liquid rennet is two years but it does lose it's potency by 2% per month sop you can compensate for this by adding a few more drops so check on the sell by date and compensate accordingly.

[Oddley]

I bought 2 boxes of vegeren from a large Tesco, the sell by date is aug 2006 in light of what Rik has said it must have been sitting on the shelves a while.

Jen, If I had decided to measure 160 drops from the bottle, I would have had an audience of my wife and children waiting for me to mess up, then there would be copious amounts of micky taking. To avoid this I would have been forced to find another method of finding out the volume of the rennet.

Rik, Interesting info. I will keep it in mind when next purchasing vegeren.

[Rik vonTrense]

Last lot I bought from Tesco a month or so ago when I started making cheese again was dateed Aug 2007....but I had to sort through them as some were May 2006.

I have even found them all passed the sell by date on the shelves at Tesco.

.

[aris]

I suspect that <A HREF=http://www.junketdesserts.com/>junket</A> isn't that popular of a desert any more - so the stuff stays on the shelf.

[Oddley]

Funny you should say that aris. I am just about to give junket a go, as I have never tasted it before.

[aris]

It's a real old-school desert - the kind of thing your parents in law pine for My parents in law live in South Africa and ask us to send them junket tablets as they can no longer get it there.

[Wohoki]

It's what little Miss Muffett lived on, so it can't be too bad.......

[jenny_haddow]

I bought more Vegeren from Waitrose last week and that was also August's use by date. That had to be some newish stock, because the last lot I got about a month or so ago was June. I don't think it has a very long shelf life anyway. Somewhere in amongst all the cheese info I've been reading lately, I'm sure I read you need twice as much Vegeren as normal rennet.

Jen

[welsh wizard]

Hi I have had a quick look on ebay for rennet and there is a company in Solihull selling rennet tablets for �3.95 for 20 (sorry I dont know how to post a link), any comments?????????

Cheers WW

[Rik vonTrense]

Yes steer very clear of tablets. They use them in America but they are different. Liquid is more accurate for use and assimilation into the milk.

They are designed for Junket only and are not reliable enough for cheese.

Vegeren if fine if you have anyqualms about using animal rennet but animal rennet is the best for keeping and for price.

Always keep it in the fridge and it does have a shelf life of two years.