Ask Annie - Vegetarian Cheese
What is vegetarian cheese? Is it the same as vegan cheese ? - Mary, Stockport
People confuse vegetarian cheese with vegan cheese. Vegan cheese is not made with dairy milk, but a non animal milk substitute.
Traditionally, dairy cheese has been made with a product produced from the stomach of a calf - rennet. This causes the milk to curdle and helps to form the curds and whey of the nursery rhyme. Strict vegetarians do not wish to eat cheese that is made from animal rennet, so vegetarian versions have been produced that work equally as well as the animal derived rennet.
Cheese should be labelled in supermarkets. If it is not declared "suitable for vegetarians" then the chances are it isn't. Traditional English cheeses are likely to be non veggie if the cheese is still made the farmhouse way, in a bandaged truckle, but there are a few exceptions, notably, Green's farmhouse cheddar. In the UK, most factory (or creamery) produced cheese is vegetarian and this factory cheese is used almost exclusively in the catering business, so the grated cheddar used on your baked potato is almost certainly veggie. Generic cheeses may be either veggie or non veggie, such as goat's cheese, but branded cheeses are easier to track. Well known veggie cheeses include Stilton, Dolcelatte and Somerset Brie.
As a broad generalisation, cheese making counties where vegetarianism is not strong (such as France or Italy) use animal rennet to make their cheese. A good example of this is Italian Parmesan which has to use animal rennet under statute, making it not suitable for vegetarians. Another example is Gorgonzola which again is always made using animal rennet. However, there are alternatives. Farmers Hand is made in England using Italian methods and the resulting 'English parmesan' cheese is difficult to tell from the real thing. As for Gorgonzola, substitute it with Stilton or Cashel Blue.
In other countries such as the USA, there is no obligation for the type of rennet to be stated on the product. So you would have to check the cheese yourself to make sure.
Many people catering for vegetarians fail to take the provenance of the cheese into account, thus excluding the resultant dish as one of choice for strict veggies.
In the UK, a site we like is the Caws Cenarth family cheese business in Dyfed. Their cheeses are all vegetarian and they increasingly use organic milk. You may order on line. If you are in the area, you may like to visit the farm; details on their website www.cawscenarth.co.uk. We also recommend the Teddington cheese website. Their vegetarian cheeses are clearly labelled and in many of their cheese selections, you may elect to have veggie cheeses only.
Categories
