junkets

[John Savage]

This is not a political rant. :-)

On a local radio gardening program (2GB here in Sydney) a caller asked was there a home-grown substitute for setting milk when making cottage cheese. (This need has been forced on us because most of the two major supermarket-chain stores have removed junket tablets from their shelves; not a profitable line.)

Another caller recounted how, in times of shortage during the war, her mother would stir the warming milk with a twig from their fig tree (edible figs) and this would cause the milk to set (albeit not smoothly). The chosen twig was about the thickness of a finger and was first prepared by having its bark peeled off.

Anyone have other plant-based suggestions?

-- John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

[FarmI]

Here's a pretty comprehensive list:

[John Savage]

rennet in making junket, too. This involves setting the milk, rather than just making it curdle. (I can use pineapple cordial base to make milk curdle, but it won't turn it into a junket.)

[FarmI]

"Lady's bedstraw" is a natural rennet. I had some in my previous garden. See:

and