614 ANNUAI, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



in proportion as the pieces of curd are smaller. The paracasein, or 

 curd, as soon as formed, shows a tendency to conUact and this 

 shrinking naturally forces out the whey, the liquid portion of the 

 curd. In cutting, the extent of surface, from which the whey can 

 go out, is enormously increased. 



(1.) When to Cut Curd. — It is a point of some importance to know 

 just when to cut the curd, as this has considerable influence upon 

 the rest of the operation and upon the amount of fat lost and, so, 

 upon the yield of cheese. If curd is cut when it is too soft, there 

 will be large losses of fat and decreased yield of cheese. If th€ curd 

 becomes too hard before cutting, the whey is removed less easily, 

 and the qualit}' of the cheese may be injured. The test used to de- 

 termine when the curd is in the right condition to cut is the follow- 

 ing: The end of the index finger is inserted obliquely into the curd 

 half an inch or more and then slowly raised toward the surface; 

 if the curd breaks apart with a clean fracture, without leaving 

 email bits of curd on the finger, and the w'hey in the broken surface 

 is clear a«d not milky, the curd is in the right condition of firmness 

 to be cut. 



(2.) How to Cut Curd. — In pLimitive methods of cheese-making, 

 the curd was broken into small pieces with the fingers or with any 

 kind of instrument, and no attention was given to having the small 

 pieces of uniform size or shape. We now have specially devised 

 knives for cutting curd, which leave the curd in small cubes about 

 three-eighths of an inch in diameter. One curd knife is horizontal 

 (see Fig. 4), with numerous parallel blades; the other is perpen- 

 dicular (see Fig. 5). Cheese-makers differ in their practice in regard 

 to which knife to use first, but it is a matter of little or no import- 

 ance. In using the horizontal knife, it is carefully inserted into the 

 curd at one end of the vat, care being taken not to jam the curd in 

 so doing, and is then moved along from end to end until the whole 

 mass has been cut. The perpendicular knife is then used at once, 

 cutting not only from end to end of the vat but crosswise also. The 

 movement of the knife should be somewhat more rapid toward the 

 end of cutting. The object to be kept in mind in cutting is uni- 

 formity in size of pieces of curd after being cut. In the case of 

 very ripe or over-ripe milk, the curd should be cut finer. The fine- 

 ness is governed largely by the number of times the knives are passed 

 through the curd. 



54. Heating the Curd. 



As soon as the curd is cut, the whey begins to go out of it and the 

 curd settles to the bottom of the vat. If it remains undisturbed, 

 the cut surfaces of the curd easily reunite and, when we break them 



