Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Cheese Rennet

CHEESE RENNET, or Yellow Bed-Straw, Galium verum, L. is a native plant growing on the sides of fields and roads. It has a firm, erect, square stem; short branches, terminating in spikes of small yellow blossoms, appearing in July and August.

The flowers of this plant coagulate boiling milk; and it is, we apprehend erroneously, supposed that the best Cheshire cheese is prepared by their influence. When boiled in alum-water, says Dr. Withering, they tinge wool yellow. The roots dye a very fine red, not inferior to madder. They also impart a similar colour to the bones of animals fed upon them. According to the experiments related by Succow, the German chemist, a decoction of the whole plant, when in blossom, on adding vitriol of iron and spirit of salt, produced a fine green colour, which was likewise imparted to wool and silk.

Sheep and goats eat the yellow bed-straw; but it is refused by horses, swine, and cows. In France, the flowers are prescribed in hysteric cases. The juice of the plant has been successfully used in Britain; and, from an account given in the Edinburgh Medical Commentaries, it appears to be an efficacious remedy for the cure of scorbutic complaints.