Is cheese made out of animal rennet?!
VEGETARIAN CHEESES are made with RENNET’S OF NON-ANIMAL ORIGIN. In the past, fig leaves, melon, wild thistle and safflower have all supplied plant rennet for cheese making. However, most widely available vegetarian cheeses are made using rennet produced by fermentation of the fungus Mucor miehei. Vegetarian cheese may also be made using rennet from the bacteria Bacillus subtilis or Bacillus prodigiosum.
Here is a link to the Vegetarian Society explaining the whole process :
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/cheese.html
Answers: Yes most cheese are but not the Vegetarian cheeses.
VEGETARIAN CHEESES are made with RENNET’S OF NON-ANIMAL ORIGIN. In the past, fig leaves, melon, wild thistle and safflower have all supplied plant rennet for cheese making. However, most widely available vegetarian cheeses are made using rennet produced by fermentation of the fungus Mucor miehei. Vegetarian cheese may also be made using rennet from the bacteria Bacillus subtilis or Bacillus prodigiosum.
Here is a link to the Vegetarian Society explaining the whole process :
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/cheese.html
Many kinds are. Others are made with vegetable rennet.
Excuse me, my cheese is made out of milk and oil. . .
Some cheeses are, some are not. Normally, it will say on the label rennet(animal) or rennet(vegetable). Some cheeses do not use rennet at all (particularly yogurt and cream cheeses, some paneer, quark, mascarpone, etc.) or will use an acid to seperate the milk into curds and whey for cheesemaking. Some milks even possess enough acidity on their own that they do not even require a rennet or acid to seperate them. Some people should be cautious about consuming cheeses made with vegetable rennet, as it is made from a mold (muror miehei) that some mold-allergic people will have reactions to. The reason that specific mold is used is because the mold itself contains chymosin which is the active component in the animal rennet.
There are now several ways that rennet is manufactured in mass quantities. Getting rennet from the lining of a calves stomach is expensive and impractical. I'm sure some small, artisan cheeses still use it, but most cheese producers use the cheaper, manufactured rennet (not from a dead animal)
This page has a link listing brands that use rennet from vegetarian sources. You'll notice lots of common brands there, including Cabot, Boar's Head, Sargento and others. I'm sure this is a partial list, based on limited research. http://cheese.joyousliving.com/