Vegetarian Cheese Collection - Zabar’s Cheese Plate of the Week

Cheese is a great food for vegetarians because it is rich in calcium and vitamins while being an excellent source of protein. However, there is one ingredient in cheese that has raised concern among many vegetarians. That ingredient is rennet, the enzyme used in cheese production to separate the milk into solids and whey. It is essential to cheese production and has been used for centuries. However, the rennet is often an animal based product and that is where the concerns of vegetarians come from. So to solve this problem, many cheesemakers have looked to alternative forms of rennet that are not animal based. These rennets can come from various sources including vegetable, microbial and even plants like thistle. Thanks to these alternatives, vegetarian cheeses are now available in a diverse selection of textures, milks and flavors. However, it can be hard to know which cheeses are vegetarian so we thought that we would feature some of our favorites.