Rennet

Rennet is not only used in junket puddings but also in most cheese-making. It is extracted from the fourth stomach of ruminants, usually calves, by soaking. How man discovered, thousands of years ago, the coagulating properties of this gastric extract is one of those charming mysteries that makes the history of food so fascinating. Goats’ milk would have been carried in bags made from the stomachs of slaughtered animals. Residual gastric enzymes in the skin curdled the milk – ergo, primitive cheese.