Unfortunately, a huge wave of people are just realising that Parmesan cheese isn’t suitable for vegetarians - and they’re not best pleased with the knowledge.
If you’re a lifelong vegetarian who regularly consumes Parmesan, then you’ve been unintentionally consuming an animal product this whole time.
This Italian hard cheese, which also goes by the name Parmigiano Reggiano, and is produced from cows’ milk.
Interestingly, this diary product can only be named so if it’s made in the provinces of Parma, Bologna or Reggio Emilia.
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But unfortunately, it has some stuff in it which may upset a vegetarian.
So, if you’re happy living that ‘ignorance is bliss’ lifestyle, then look away now because we’re about to expose how Parmesan is made.
The coagulation process, by which this cheese is made, uses an enzyme called chymosin.
This gastric enzyme is introduced to the product by using something called rennet.
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If you’re plant-based and partial to squeamishness, then you may want to skip out on how cheesemakers acquire rennet.
When a baby cow is killed, the cullers will remove its stomach and let it dry out.
After, the dishevelled stomach will be cut up into cubes and added to the cheese mixture.
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Once the calf stomach is added, the mixture will then coagulate and hey presto - you have a block of cheese!
And sadly, this dairy product can not to bestowed the title of Parmesan if it doesn’t contain calf rennet.
It also cannot be classed if cow’s milk and salt were not included in the mixture.
But it gets worse.
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Have you heard of Grana Padano or gorgonzola? Unfortunately, both of these products use calf rennet, too.
Also cross Manchego, Emmenthal and the Yuletide staple Camembert off your list because they aren’t veggie either.
Gruyère, Pecorino-Romano, Vacherin and Bucheron are also, unfortunately, a no-go for plant-based people.
Within the EU, cheeses that are marketed as Parmesan must have been made in the region of Parma, Reggio-Emilia, or Bologna as we’ve previously described. The cheese must also be made in the fashion outlined above.
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While this process has been going on for a long, long time, some are only just realising their dairy isn’t veggie-friendly.
One said: “Today years old when I found out Parmesan cheese is made from baby cow’s stomach & I could go cry.
“I’m just gonna have to go full vegan at this point.”
Another said: “TIL: Some cheeses are not vegetarian because they use rennet, an enzyme from the stomach lining of goats and calves.
“The rennet is obtained by means of slaughtering the animal.
“These cheeses are Gorgonzola, Gruyère, Manchego, Parmesan, and Pecorino Romano among others.”
A third simply wrote: “Parmesan cheese isn’t vegetarian?!”
So yeah, you might want to skip that extra Parmesan sprinkle on your pizza next time.
Topics: Food and Drink, World News, Vegan, Science