Chymosin 101

Microbial Chymosin Explained

Short answer

Chymosin can be produced by fermentation rather than extracted from animal stomachs. The enzyme does the same job in the vat; what changes is the production route and, for many buyers, the dietary suitability of the resulting cheese.

By Bixa Products, Editorial teamUpdated February 8, 20264 min read

Why fermentation-produced coagulants became standard

Consistent supply, independent of animal by-product availability.
Standardised clotting strength, which makes dosing predictable.
Suitability for cheese sold to vegetarian consumers, depending on the specific product's documentation.

For your own label claims

Any statement you put on your packaging should come from the documentation of the specific coagulant you buy. Ask your supplier — including us — rather than relying on general category information.

Technical information to be supplied by Bixa.Production and documentation details for Bixa Liquid Chymosin.

About the author

Bixa Products — Editorial team

Educational content written by the Bixa Products team, a family-owned cheesemaking ingredient company specializing in rennet and chymosin. Technical guidance is written conservatively: where a value depends on your milk, process or product, we say so instead of guessing for you.

Family-owned cheesemaking ingredient company
30+ years in the Latin American cheesemaking market
Specialists in rennet, chymosin and milk coagulation

Keep reading

All articles

Chymosin 101

What Is Chymosin?

Chymosin is the principal milk-clotting enzyme found in traditional rennet. It acts specifically on kappa-casein at the surface of the casein micelles, which destabilises them and allows milk to form a curd.

6 min read

Rennet 101

What Is Vegetarian Rennet?

Vegetarian rennet is a general term for milk coagulants that do not come from animal stomachs. In practice it usually means microbial rennet produced by fermentation, and sometimes plant-derived coagulants such as thistle.

4 min read