Report on the Exhibition of Cheese at Chester. 41 9 



Although the trouble of testing the heat of the milk by a 

 thermometer at the time of mixing for coagulation is so trifling, 

 and the test itself so much superior to that of the fingers' ends, 

 yet it appears that so many as thirteen out of these twenty-three 

 did not adopt it, and amongst those who did, very great dis- 

 agreement exists, — some giving the heat as low as 66^ and 68°, 

 and others as high as 90° ; — the proper heat being, according to 

 my own observations, about 80°, or ranging from 75° to 80°. 



As to the salt applied to the curd, the application of which so 

 materially affects the flavour of the cheese, only three out of the 

 twenty-three makers can give any account of the quantity they 

 use ; one says 1 lb. of salt to 20 lbs, of curd ; another f lb. to a 

 60-lb. cheese ; and a third says : " The salt was not weighed. 

 The salting in a great measure depends on the time of the year, 

 the nature of the food, or the luxuriance of the herbage : when the 

 cheeses now exhibited were made [October, 1857], perhaps more 

 than the average quantity of salt was used, say 2^ lbs. to a 60-lb. 

 cheese." On referring to my private notes as to the opinion of 

 the judges on these cheeses, I find the remark ^^ too salt,^' at 

 which those who know anything about cheese-making will not 

 be surprised. If the result of my former investigations on this 

 poi.nt are of any value, the quantity used was nearly double what 

 it ought to be, and was indeed exactly double what an experi- 

 enced dairymaid once informed me she used for a 60-lb. cheese 

 in October. 



I have now communicated all the important facts, arising out 

 of the exhibition of cheese at Chester, and 1 sincerely hope that 

 the Report may have the effect of eliciting further information 

 upon, and inquiry into, that branch of rural economy — alike 

 important both to the producer and the consumer — the manufac- 

 ture of cheese. We are too much in the habit of considering 

 cheese only as a luxury, whereas it deserves to be considered as 

 much a necessary of life as butcher's meat or potatoes, and 

 perhaps more so. Besides, these have to be cooked, which to 

 the poor man is often a great inconvenience, but cheese requires 

 no preparation, and, lohen properly made and eaten with wholesome 

 bread, is by no means so indigestible as some doctors would 

 make us believe. This remark applies of course to cheese made 

 from new milk, or milk from which little or no cream has been 

 taken, as is the case with Cheshire; but even skim-milk cheese, 

 though often hard, is by no means innutritious. 



I am not in possession of an analysis of Cheshire cheese, but 

 I do not suppose it differs materially from that of other so-called 

 whole-milk cheese, several kinds of which were analysed some 

 years ago, by Mr. Jones in Professor Johnstone's laboratory ; the 

 results of which, as well as that of a skim-milk cheese, I now beg 

 to subjoin, in proof of what 1 have been stating: — 



