Can I Make Mozzarella with Junket Rennet? Good Questions

Q: I was inspired by your Homemade Mozzarella so I bought 2 gallons of fresh local milk. Unfortunately, I assumed I could find rennet at my local health food store, but I can only find Junket. Should I try 1 or 2 Junket tabs? Or freeze the milk until I can get better rennet?

Sent by Sara

Editor: Junket rennet is less concentrated and less reliable than regular rennet, but I've been hearing success stories from people who use 1 - 2 tabs.

Readers, what do you think?

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Categories: Advice, Main, Cheese, Discussion, Ingredient, Product, Questions, Recipe Questions

Posted by Emma Christensen

Emma is the recipe editor for The Kitchn and the author of "True Brews: How to Craft Fermented Cider, Beer, Wine, Sake, Soda, Mead, Kefir, and Kombucha at Home," available in bookstores nationwide May 14, 2013.
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Comments (8)

New England Cheesemaking advises against using junket rennet for cheesemaking, http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/pg/244-FAQ-Cheesemaking-and-Rennet.html

Note, they also advise against freezing cow's milk, http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/pg/239-FAQ-Cheesemaking-and-Milk.html. So if junket rennet is your only option right now....

Do you need rennet for mozzarella?

Definitely do _not_ freeze your milk. It will render your final product grainy, with lower yield, and likely rancid. Drink that milk, or cook with it, but do not freeze any dairy product except butter.

Worked for me! I used 1.5 tabs of Junket rennet. I had to wait for closer to 10-15 minutes before the curds were solid enough to cut into a grid. Otherwise, everything worked exactly as described in the original article!

I tried it one time but it did not produce as many curds as I would have liked

While I'm not sure on the junket, if you have a Home Brewing store local to you they often also stock cheese making equipement. That's where I buy my rennet and other cheese making bits!

Order rennet from www.cheesemaking.com. You can likely get it delivered before your milk goes off. Or make ice cream now with your milk and buy more when the rennet arrives! :)