1 66 CANADIAN DAIRYING. 



means more labor and greater loss, but improves the 

 quality of the cheese. It is very important that water 

 used in milk or on the curd shall be very clean and 

 pure, else more harm than good may result. The 

 practice of " washing " all curds either after dipping or 

 after milling is not to be recommended, as it involves 

 considerable labor, reduces the yield of cheese, and 

 does not improve the quality of cheese from good 

 milk. Washing curds is not recommended except 

 for special cases, and then only when the supply of 

 water is above suspicion. Washing retards the devel- 

 opment of the lactic acid, which is not desired in normal 

 curds. 



The curd is properly cooked when it shows no 

 tendency to stick together, after being pressed in the 

 hand. 



DIPPING, MATTING AND MILLING. 



The term " dipping " is applied to that stage of 

 cheesemaking when the whey is removed from the 

 curd. Formerly the curd was dipped or baled from 

 the whey, hence the term. It is important to know 

 when the curd may be separated from the main body 

 of the whey. It is advisable in hot weather to draw off 

 the most of the whey before the curd has sufficient 

 acid for dipping, in order that the remainder may be 

 drawn quickly when ready. The test formerly used 

 was known as the " hot iron test," which consists in 

 heating an iron to near redness then cooling, and 

 applying a well-drained piece of curd to the heated 

 surface. By drawing this away carefully, fine threads 



