Potential of Euphorbia heterophylla L. plant extract to prepare cheese

Potential of Euphorbia heterophylla L plant extract was tested for cheese making capacities. The plant extract had rennet like activity and was able to coagulate milk. The minimum 2.2% of plant extract was required for effective coagulation of milk. The optimum coagulation temperature and time were found to be 700C and 6 minutes, respectively. The milk coagulating activity was not observed for temperatures of 0-40°C even when high concentration of plant extract was used. Plant extracts stored at 4°C remained active for more than 30 days while storage at room temperature impaired their activity within 24 hours. 10 mM EDTA and 5 mM Cystein were found to stabilize the activity of the rennetting activity of the plant extracts for more than 90 days. The physicochemical properties of the cheese prepared using plant extracts of E. heterophylla were relatively similar to the cheese prepared using rennets from other plant sources. The results from the present study show that plant extracts of Euphorbia heterophylla L may provide a cheap and readily available alternative to rennet.