Vegetable rennet
A milk-setting extract from plants, such as cardoon thistle, fig sap or the berries of Withania coagulans.
Also: plant rennet, thistle rennet, paneer dodi, cardoon
Vegetable rennet is any coagulant taken from a plant. The most famous is the dried flower of the cardoon thistle, Cynara cardunculus, soaked in water and used in Portugal and Spain for Serra da Estrela, Azeitão, Torta del Casar and La Serena, which gives a soft, almost spoonable paste and a slightly bitter edge. Fig sap and fig twigs were used in Greek and Roman times. In north-west India and Pakistan, the dried berries of Withania coagulans, called paneer dodi or paneer ke phool, are used to set milk. In West Africa, the sap of Calotropis procera sets wagashi. Plant rennets are vegetarian, though few dairies use them today.