Dear Countryside, Thank you for including us vegetarians in your superb publication; the wheat gluten recipe was indispensable and it will save us hundreds of dollars (around here, gluten runs at about $8/lbs.). In your latest issue you write about making your own rennet. Unfortunately, for the obvious reasons we could not use that recipe. We heard of, and have seen listed in the ingriedients of some cheeses, rennet made from either a plant, or a bacterial culture probably associated with a certain plant. Can you shed some light on this? Also, in your latest issue, you have included a very informative article about raising sheep. You mention the wool and the meat as the end products. What about the milk? Is sheep's milk drinkable? If so, can you make butter, cheese, etc. with it? Are there any breeds that are recommended for both good family milk sheep as well as a provider of nice wool? We thought we would like to work with Merino because of the quality of the fiber, but how are they with milk producing? Thank you very much for your time. Sincerely, K. Reynolds

-- K. Reynolds (popiel77@sprynet.com), June 24, 1999

Answers

About the sheep's milk: We are vegetarian, and run a Sanctuary for farm animals. I had my sheep shearer here the other day, and asked him about milking sheep. He said it is mostly just not done here in the US, because we have easier alternatives, such as goats and cows. The main thing he said is that sheep don't "let their milk down" the way cows and goats do at milking time. It's difficult to get them to cooperate. They hold back. I guess it's done more in other countries because they have to, since they can't afford cows, maybe? or maybe the climate is not good for cows? I don't know. But I had asked him the question just the other day, so I thought I'd share his answer.

-- Shannon (GratAcres@aol.com), June 28, 1999.

Dear K., In France they have large sheep dariys and make many kinds of cheese. Sheep milk is much higher in protein than cow or goat and from what I understood from my research, basically has more solids to it than the other two milks. Dorset would be the breed you would want for milk production. Good luck. Teresa

-- Teresa Hoke-House (tesi2@hotmail.com), July 01, 1999.

Dear k, you could use nettles as an alternative to rennet, well I read it somewhere but I`ve never tried it. Laura Jamieson ...Shetland

-- Laura Jamieson (bob.jamieson@talk21.com), July 04, 1999.

Most cheese making supply houses sell vegetable based rennet as well as animal based. I have the instructions for making it yourself. I fyou want I will hunt it up and submit it.

-- Marci Shaffer (ajourend@libby.org), July 13, 1999.

I'd be interested in any recipes on rennet, also!

thanks! Idaho Cher

-- Cheryl Rodvang (fullcircle@nidlink.com), July 15, 1999.

Please let me know how to make vegetable rennet, too. I have two buck kids and can't handle the idea of baby stomaches anymore.

-- Kendy Sawyer (sweetfire@grove.net), July 27, 1999.

oh yds, oh yes, i'd love to have directions/instructions/help on making vegatable rennet...that would be so nice of you!!! thans in advance from katie

-- kate hankins (yarnspinnerkt@hotmail.com), August 02, 1999.

Here's what I found in a real live book, "The Craft of the Country Cook" by Pat Katz...offa page 510:

"...Directions for making plant rennets are hard to find and often vague, so expect to learn through experimentation. At best, vegetable rennets are likely to set less dense curd and require longer to work than animal rennets."

NETTLES FOR RENNET Boil a bunch of nettles for 20 to 30 minutes in just enough water to cover them, and strain off the liquid. Usually as much plain or pickling salt as will dissolve is stirred into the liquid while it is still warm. The salt preserves the liquid, but it may also add more salt to the cheese than is desirable, and may inhibit the ripening of the curd. Freezing 1/2 cup portions of unsalted liquid is another possibility. The amount of liquid needed for succesful coagulation vary considerably, but 1/2 cup per gallon of milk is a reasonable amou

-- Sharon Lonewolf (sharonlonewolf@hotmail.com), December 05, 1999.

That was very interesting on the vegetable rennet, Thank you for taking the time to look it up for all of us.

-- kathy h (saddlebronc@msn.com), December 20, 1999.

I'm a little late to the party but i'll throw in my two cents, or rather someone elses:

From "Raising sheep the modern way" sheep milk is higher in solids as stated above so you can get twice as much cheese as from the same amount of cows milk. They refer to research studies that claim Dorset and Dorset-Lincoln croosses are among the best. They also say that, unlike cows milk, you can freeze it until you have enough then thaw and proceed without loss of quality. Check with the University of Minnesota. They are the source of the research study above on the whole subject(in 1984.

About rennet:in Carla Emery's book "Encyclopedia of Country Living" she haas a small section on nettles. "combine 6c. very strong nettle tea with 4c.uniodized salt. Add just enough to get the curdling action for your cheese making." She also says boiling the nettles takes the sting out of them. Aand if you're rreally adventurous, she gives a recipe for "cream of nettle soup". Anyway there is a whole section cheese there she lists nettle,lemon or common sorrel,unripe fig sap,fumitory,and thistle. Nettle and thistle being best.Globe artichokes being in the Compositae thistle family is also supposed to do the job. You can simply take the dried purple thistle heads, put them in cheese cloth and soak in milk til clabbered. Also veggie rennet takes longer than animal rennet. She cautions against to much will ruin your cheese and could cause indigestion. Theres a little more on preparing a liquid but this to long alreaady. DOES THIS HELP ANY?

-- Novina West (lamb@stellarnet.com), April 06, 2000.

Over on Onelist also called EGroups now, they have a cheesemakers list, we even have a guy who is from South Africa. I never knew there was so much information on Cheese! But they turned around my Feta recipe, gave me great advice, and I just can't believe there is anyone who knows more about this topic than them. Even if you just scroll through the archives! Vicki McGaugh

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 06, 2000.

Hello, Sheep milk is very very rich and high in fat content, we raise merinos here and Clun Forest which are part of the foundation of the super milkers of france, the merinos are not super milk producers but they do produce more than some breeds, I would not suggest them as milkers but just my .02 worth, the cluns however produce large quantities of milk are very calm easy to deal with I feel they arte very disease resistant/worm resistant and at the current time I am getting between 8 and 10 pounds of very nice fleece off of mine. The cheese is wonderful from their milk, and they are multiple producers raising their lambs without assistance, I crossed merino and clun this year with wonderful results, now to see how they do on milk production. Lee

-- Lee Gardner (crittersforkids@in-tch.com), August 18, 2000.

My summer 1997 issue of Rural Heritage magazine has an article on milking sheep. It is geared towards the commercial dairy, but still has good information for the individual.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), August 29, 2000.