Abstract

Common milk coagulants, such as calf rennet, genetically engineered chymosin, and microbial rennet, are costly and face restrictions due to ethical, cultural, and dietary concerns. This review discusses the application of three types of plant-based coagulants (aspartic proteases, cysteine proteases, and serine proteases) in food products to replace animal and microbial coagulants, including extraction methods, milk clotting properties, product quality, organoleptic properties, and textural characteristics. Plant-based coagulants deliver milk-clotting activity and organoleptic properties comparable with those obtained with animal rennet, making them suitable for artisanal cheese production. They also offer potential health benefits for functional dairy products. However, the quality of the final products can impacted by bitter taste due to high proteolytic activity, which can be influenced by variations in plant sources, including their origin environment and cultivation. Overall, various plant proteases, in crude or purified form, can serve as effective coagulants for milk coagulation, depending on optimal conditions.