From March 2021, CONO will be making almost all of its cheeses for the fresh food shops and marketers with vegetarian rennet. The young cheeses will arrive after Easter. The expectation is that all aged cheeses will be vegetarian by the end of 2022. CONO Cheese Makers innovates with an eye to the future.
"It was a really big project where quality remained the starting point. And the unique flavour and tenderness of CONO cheese had to remain exactly the same."
-Lieke Kortekaas, Cheesemaster
CONO cheese now vegetarian
From March 2021, CONO will be making almost all of its cheeses for the fresh food shops and marketers with vegetarian rennet. The young cheeses will arrive after Easter. The expectation is that all aged cheeses will be vegetarian by the end of 2022. CONO Cheese Makers innovates with an eye to the future.
The market for vegetarian food is growing
The number of people eating vegetarian food has grown by 50% in the past two years. The growth of the number of vegetarians and vegans will continue. This is shown in the Vegatrends 2020 study by the Vegetarian Union. Not only at home, but also outside the home there is an increasing demand for vegetarian dishes.
CONO cheese retains its unique taste
Managing Director Wim Betten: "We listen carefully to the wishes of our customers and consumers. Of course our cheese has to be the tastiest, but we have also been investing for years in sustainability on the farms and in our cheese factory in De Beemster. We are proud that our cheese is now vegetarian. What is different is the rennet. That is now vegetarian. Furthermore, the recipe remains the same, because we value our traditions. You have to cherish what is good, and at the same time we innovate with an eye to the future. So all the vegetarian cheeses from the CONO cheese factory are made in the traditional way, naturally matured and still just as tasty!
Vegetarian rennet
Our cheese masters have worked hard to make vegetarian cheese possible. Cheese master Lieke Kortekaas: "It was really a big project where quality remains the starting point. And the unique flavour and smoothness of CONO cheese had to remain exactly the same. The only difference is that we now use a vegetarian rennet to thicken the milk to curd. Since our cheese makers always check the curdling manually and they stir the curd by hand, we could immediately use their expertise."
Consumers are increasingly aware of the products they buy and consume. In a rapidly changing world, vegetarian products are becoming increasingly relevant. For CONO, the premium taste and quality of the cheese is of course the most important thing and therefore we would like to emphasize again that this has not changed.
The step towards vegetarian cheese
Cheese master Lieke has worked hard with her colleagues from the cheese factory to make vegetarian cheese possible. "It was a really big project. Just like with the transition from our old to our new cheese factory, the assignment was to keep the unique taste and smoothness of CONO cheese exactly the same. Since our cheese makers always check the curdling manually, we could immediately use their expertise during the test phase."
Actually, nothing has changed in the recipe. The rennet enzyme itself has the same chemical composition. Only the source of the rennet enzyme is different now, namely vegetarian (microbiological). So the cheeses are still made in the traditional way, naturally matured and just as tasty!