Processed
Plant Coagulant
B tier
Plant coagulants—cardoon pistils in the Iberian peninsula, fig latex, Cynara and other thistle enzymes—set milk with proteases that are not chymosin. The curd of a Serra da Estrela or a Torta del Casar is soft, sometimes spoonable, and distinctly bitter-herbal from that thistle bite. This is a cheese style, not a drop-in vegetarian substitute for cheddar. Activity is seasonal and rustic. Overdose shreds the curd into a bitter paste; underdose never sets. Fig sap is harsher still and belongs to a few traditional uses, not a mozzarella cooker. If you want a neutral vegetarian set, buy microbial rennet or FPC, not a thistle.
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History
Iberian shepherds used cardoon flowers to set ewe's milk into thistle-coagulated cheeses.
Extremadura and Beira traditions fixed Cynara coagulants in named farmhouse cheeses.
PDO thistle cheeses kept plant coagulants while the rest of the industry moved to FPC.
Vegetarian experimenters rediscovered cardoon, often underestimating its bitterness in alien styles.