General and Molecular Aspects of Rennets

Abstract

Cheesemaking and fermentation represent the first examples of applied biochemistry and biology. Whereas living microorganisms are used in fermentation processes, the clotting of milk for cheesemaking has always required soluble enzymes. The milk-clotting enzyme from the fourth stomach of the calf was one of the first enzymes of which purification was attempted, and Deschamps1 suggested the name chymosin, derived from the Greek word for gastric liquid ’chyme’. This designation was later used in continental European languages, whereas in English the name rennin, derived from rennet, was used.2 Misunderstandings often occurred between rennin and renin from the kidneys, and therefore the designation chymosin was recently adopted in English3 and it is now used in the recommended international enzyme nomenclature.4