I don't know if I'm the last person on earth to find out, as it seems everyone but me read The Little House series as a child, but hard cheeses are still made with calves' stomachs. (Rennet: The inner lining of the fourth stomach of calves and other young ruminants. A dried extract made from the stomach lining of a ruminant, used in cheesemaking to curdle milk.) My daughter asked me to Google this 10 minutes ago, and I'm still digesting the news.
I'm not sure where this bit of information fits in our life, as my daughter has talked more and more about becoming vegetarian, and possibly vegan. We've significantly reduced our meat consumption over the last months, but we're a family of cheese lovers.
Last night, as we read in bed, I assured my daughter that rennet wasn't used in modern cheese production ( I HAD NO IDEA!!! She screams.) Well, it still is, according to my initial Googling. There are vegetable based coagulants, and of course, genetically engineered ones (I'm sure these are the ones we consume when we buy a cheap block of cheese "for snacks" and home-made pizzas. Don't I want to gag now? Back to spending double on organic cheese.) I'm sure my daughter will have a similar reaction when I tell her that her favourite, quite expensive cheese (so expensive and rare that I forget its name), is made with rennet.
For your information, soft cheeses are NOT made with rennet.
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