Making cheese with out-of-date culture/rennet

[pippimac]

I plan to make lots of cheese when I go 'down to the farm' and can get my 5l at the farm gate (for now, anyway...http://foodsafety.govt.nz/policy-law...ons/food-bill/)
The veg rennet's fridged and culture frozen, but they're at least a year or two out of date. Has anyone used old stuff successfully? I get the impression it's a matter of using more for the same effect, rather than the products being useless.
I'm a novice-ish cheesemaker, so 'eyeballing' worries me a bit!

[floot]

pippimac,

Firstly, I am not a cheese maker but have at times past assisted two people. I would think the rennet will still work if it has been stored properly but with anything like cheese it all depends. One of the reasons cheeses are so varied because there are so many variables in milk, pastures, animals, seasons etc that you will just have to play round and invent something that works for you. I live at the tropical top of Oz so whatever might work here probably wont work there or vice versa.

My greek friends, in Greece, butcher a calf annually and just dry the rennet, the old lady makes a soft goat cheese on a daily basis from air-dried rennet.

I would certainly start low-tech and kick-off with yoghurts and ricotta cottage cheese styles and work your 'whey', [eek dreadful pun ] up to the masterpiece type hard cheeses.

I would love to mess around making cheese but without using massive amounts of refrigeration my climate here is too tropical to do that. Anyone know of any tropical cheese makers?

Cheers,

[purplepear]

personally I would get new stuff if you can Leila. It is not expensive and it would be a shame to waste the milk. However I do believe that it is difficult to not make a usable cheese but what to name it may be difficult. It may well be edible.

You may get usable temperatures with a Coolgardie safe Mike. it needs to be consistant and should be 10 degrees or so but I would give it a go if you can get 14

[pippimac]

Yeah, I'll be getting new culture.

[RutabagaGirl]

I would personally use animal rennet, because commercial vegetable rennet comes from genetically modified mold. If you're a vegetarian, there are some plants, such as nettles, which naturally curdle milk in a manner similar to rennet. Not that I have made much cheese (someday, though!)