[Tserisa]

Cheese is milk cultured with bacteria and then "set" using rennet or an enzyme from a plant, bacterial or microbial source. Or a combination of rennet and enzymes from another source.

Cottage cheese and cream cheese may have rennet. Soft cheeses are as likely to contain rennet as hard cheeses. Your best bet is to look for cheeses marked vegetarian, and/or contact the manufacturer.

Cottage cheese and cream cheese are soft, fresh cheeses (they are not naturally aged).

Different cottage-cheese making techniques produce different curd sizes and flavors. You can't tell primarily from curd size, so check ingredients/call the company, but in home production small curd is traditionally made with buttermilk or a starter bacterial cultured milk (similar to how sour dough is made), and large curd is made with rennet. However, this does not always hold true with commercial cottage cheese.

Cream cheese also may or may not contain rennet, which sets the bacteria-cultured milk.