River Cottage

A fan of membrillo, I'm pleased that I've managed to make Quince cheese for the first time. Imagine it would be great with salty Spanish cheese (eg manchego), salted almonds and olives but would like to think of more local accompaniments. Any ideas on English cheese that would go well with membrillo? Andrea

Answer or View Answers

Hi, I'd like to use agar-agar in my cheese cake to replace the gelatin, mainly because it is more stable, and doesn't go wobbly when the cake gets a bit warm. But I can't find amounts. The agar I got from the chinese supermarket comes in a sort of strands. How much do I need, compared to gelatin leaves? Anybody?

Answer this question

Can anyone please give me a extensive list of scottish cheeses to sample?

Answer or View Answers

Has anyone successfully made mozzarella using store bought (homogenized) milk?? if so, please let me know how - we have been having a lot of trouble!

Answer or View Answers

Its taken me 2 years but I am now reasonably confident that cheese made with vegetarian rennet makes me unwell. I am not a vegetarian, so have been able to work out that cheeses such as parmesan, real mozarella and, (huge leap forward) cheddar that does not say it is suitable for vegetarians, are OK.

By unwell, I mean bloating, itchy rash and spots. Nothing serious but on the other hand, quite wearing, especially over a long period.

It is too long a story to explain here how I arrived at GM Vegetarian rennet - though I'm willing to bore anyone who wants to listen - but cutting it out has stopped the problems. It might extend to all vegetarian rennet but as this has only arisen over the last 3 years or so I suspect the rise of GM rennet, hence the question.

I do have to thank the Raymond Blanc Le Blog, repeated in a different question on this site - http://www.rivercottage.net/questions/food/3685/ - for putting the final pieces of jigsaw in place.

This would have more serious implications for vegetarians, who clearly couldn't try alternatives, only try and find out the source of any vegetarian rennet.

Does anyone else think they might have similar issues?

Answer this question

I’m a vegetarian and so do my up most to avoid eating animal rennet and gelatine products. Earlier today I nearly purchased a feta cheese that clearly stated it was made from genetically modified rennet. On further investigation on the coop supermarket website I am pleased that in fact coop have made the choice to clearly label their products, however, I am a little concerned that I have obviously been consuming GM rennet for a number of years through purchasing vegetarian cheeses.

Researching a little more I found out that for a number of years supermarkets have developed the use of GM rennet in their cheeses. An article by Raymond Blanc highlights in fact that there is little choice of vegetarian non GM rennet products.
http://www.caterersearch.com/blogs/raymond-blanc-le-blog/2010/06/gm-is-creeping-into-our-kitchens.html

My question is how on earth have supermarkets got away with supplying us with GM products without having to label clearly the fact its GM. I always thought this was a legal requirement, is this not true anymore?

Also, does anyone know of any alternative non GM rennet cheeses and where they can be purchased?

It seems crazy that only a few years ago, we were all demanding no GM food in our supermarkets but yet, with the pressure off, supermarkets are quite obviously feeding the nation with GM food without labelling it, but no one seems very concerned about it.

Answer or View Answers

I love pancakes, and I really want to know what other people serve them with. If I am going sweet I add lemon juice, sugar and a handful of berries and maybe a little nutmeg, if I'm going savoury I melt some cheese and ham together, add it to the pancake and roll it up. Mmmmm

Answer or View Answers