this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
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No mention of lactose.
Plant based, lactose free milk and cheese would be amazing.
No idea why they'd intentionally add lactose, so I assume it would just be naturally lactose free.
Lactose plays a role in cheese making as it is fermented by bacteria.
You can replace it with other cultures. Anything that can convert a sugar into lactic acid and you could use a milk that lacked lactose to make normal cheese. Or you can make a cheese with out the lactic acid. It will just taste a bit different.
as someone who loves cheese way too much, lactose free cheese has something off about it. it's just not cheese. not saying it's bad, but it just ain't cheese.
Lactose has a specific mouthfeel in beers, so I buy it would change cheeses dramatically.
Beer has lactose? TIL
Sometimes! Lactose is not easily fermentable, so it leaves residual sugars and a unique silky feel. Mostly in darker beers, like milk stouts or chocolate porters.
And what you absolutely don't want in beer is lactose fermenting bacteria. It gives it a cleaning rag stench.
If the cheese aged for enough time, it's getting practically lactose free in the process.
I'm not looking for a cheese alternative. I want the exact same cheese as it is now, just without the need for a cow. So it better have lactose.
Casein is the primary protein in milk, and it has a ton of uses. Humans have been consuming animal milks for a very long time, and milk is a key ingredient in a lot of food. Baking, emulsifying, cooking, fermenting, it's the casein that makes the milk magic.
Some people can be allergic to casein, but far more lack the digestive enzyme to break down lactose. Lactose is what the yeast and bacteria ferment with in cheese and yogurt, but casein is the protein that holds it all together. Conceivably, you could use a different sugar and still get something that sort of resembles cheese and yogurt, but you have a much harder time replacing the casein.
A local friend has the casein allergy. It sucks, cause there's a lot of baked goods and food in general she can't have. I struggle sometimes in baking becaus even butter contains it, and plant butters never quite perfectly match with real butter.
At least plant-based heavy cream works well enough. Lacks the dairy taste but it still works and whips nicely even in a cream whipper.