CHAPTER III 



Operations from Cutting Curd to Salting 



CUTTING THE CURD 



Purpose of cutting curd. — The object of cutting 

 curd is to allow the whey to escape from it. The 

 rapidity of the escape of whey increases with the 

 smallness of the pieces of curd. 



When to cut curd. — Curd must be cut at the 

 right stage oi hardness. The stage for cutting is 

 ascertained in several ways. We give three of 

 them, (i) The end of the index finger is inserted 

 obliquely into curd half an inch or more and then 

 slowly raised to surface. If the curd breaks apart 

 with a clean fracture without leaving small bits 

 of curd on the finger, and if the whey in the broken 

 surface is clean and not milky, the curd is ready 

 to cut. (2) Lay the back of the hand, including 

 the fingers, on the surface of the curd near the 

 edge of the vat and press it gently away from the 

 side of the vat. As soon as it will separate from 

 the side of the vat in a clean way, leaving no par- 

 ticles of curd on the side of the vat, it is ready to 

 cut. (3) The following is probably the most ac- 

 curate rule for determining when the curd should 

 be cut : Tzvo and one-half times the period from add- 

 ing rennet til! the first thickening appears gives the 

 time for cutting. 



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