MOISTURE AND ACIDITY IN CURD, ETC. 49 



whey escape ; the larger the pieces of curd, th<^ 

 less rapid the escape of whey. Under the same 

 conditions of treatment, a coarse-cut curd retains 

 more whey than one fine-cut. When curd is cut 

 before it becomes hard the whey escapes more 

 easily than in the ,case of curd cut after it becomes 

 hard. 



(2) Heating curd in whey. — When the tem- 

 perature of curd in wdiey is raised too rapidly, the 

 film on the outside of the pieces of curd is harder 

 and more impervious, which seriously interferes 

 with the escape of whey. If the temperature is 

 not raised sufficiently high, the whey does not 

 escape as completely as it should ; this is especially 

 the case when an insufficient degree of acidity is 

 developed. Therefore the curd in the whey should 

 be heated gradually (p. 30) and the temperature 

 raised to the degree called for by the existing con- 

 ditions (p. 29). For method of avoiding dry curd 

 see p. 121. 



(3) Removal of whey. — The whey should be 

 removed promptly when the curd is properly firmed. 

 When allowed to lie in whey after reaching the 

 right condition, the curd may reabsorb whey, which 

 can be removed only with extreme difficulty and 

 usually with considerable loss of fat. 



(4) Stirring of curd. — Curd should be freed from 

 whey and made properly dry by sufficient stirring 

 after removal of whey (p. 32). ■ 



(5) Cheddaring curd. — In case of wet curd, it 

 should not be piled too high in the operation of 

 cheddaring, since this results in retention of more 

 whey than when curd is cut fine and not piled 



