EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



259 



IV. CHEDDAE VS. STIRRED CURD. 



Inasmucli as the curd mill is not much used in the manufacture of Michigan 

 cheese, and further, since this cheese is somewhat moist and more porous than 

 Wisconsin and Nevi^ York Cheddar, a series of experiments was made to deter- 

 mine the relative porosity and water content of cheese made by the two processes. 



Four cheese were made in each trial, as follows: 



The milk after being ripened to the proper point was divided between two vats, 

 treated as nearly alike as possible until after the removal of the whey, when the 

 curd in one vat was hand stirred for one-half to one hour and then salted, while 

 the curd in the other was matted, cut and salted after one hour. Two cheese 

 were thus obtained from each vat in v/hich the acidity by the hot iron test before 

 salting, varied from H to % inch in the various trials. Immediately upon leaving 

 the press the water content of the cheese was determined by the method employed 

 by the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. (Bulletin No. 46 Revised 

 edition. Division of Chemistry, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.) 



In the following table will be found the results showing the per cent of water 

 incorporated in the cheese by the stirred and cheddar processes respectively: 



Trial. 



Cheddar. . , 

 Stirred. . . . 



10* 



40.36 

 36.46 



* Stirred one hour. 



Remembering that the cheese were made alike in every respect up to the time 

 of the removal of the whey, differences in water content noted must be ascribed 

 to differences in treatment which the curd received after such removal. 



It will be noted that where the stirred and Cheddar cheese were both salted at 

 the same time, 1. e., one hour after dipping, the latter contained a great dal more 

 water than the former. Inasmuch as the common practice with Michigan cheese 

 makers is to stir the curd for a half hour only between dipping and salting, this 

 time was adopted with the stirred cheese rather than one hour which was the time 

 uniformly used with Cheddar cheese, yet the latter always contained the larger 

 per cent of water. 



From the table below, it will be seen that the yield was also a little greater 

 with the Cheddar than with the stirred process. Since the losses in manufacture 

 were practically the same, this difference in yield must be ascribed to the differ- 

 ence in the water content: 



To secure a fairly moist cheese with the curd mill, care must be taken not to 

 stir the curd too dry before allowing it to mat, furthermore the matting must be 

 done as guickly as possible by frequent and deep piling of the curd, keeping the 

 temperature as nearly as possible at 98°. 



