CHEDDAR CHEESE-MAKING 193 



If the cheeses are to be colored, the color should be 

 added after all the starter. It should be thoroughly 

 and evenly mixed with the milk to insure an even color 

 in the cheese. If the color is added before the starter, 

 there are likely to be white specks in the cheese, on account 

 of the coagulated casein in the starter. The amount of 

 color to use depends on the tint desired in the cheese. 

 It varies from J to \ ounce to 1000 pounds of milk for a 

 light straw color to \\ to 2 ounces for 1000 pounds of 

 milk for a deep red color. 



Enough rennet should be used to produce a curd firm 

 enough to cut in twenty-five to thirty-five minutes. 

 The necessary amount will vary with the strength of the 

 rennet extract itself, with the acidity, the temperature, 

 the nature of the lot of milk, and with the individual 

 aims of the maker in which he adjusts the other factors 

 to his preferences as to rapidity of rennet action. With 

 the usual commercial extract, the needed amount ranges 

 from 2.5 to 4 ounces for 1000 pounds of milk. As for all 

 varieties of cheese, the rennet extract should be diluted 

 in cold water at about one part rennet to forty parts 

 water and thoroughly stirred into the milk. (See 

 Chapter V.) 



196. Cutting. The object of cutting is to obtain 

 an even expulsion of the moisture from the curd. The 

 curd is cut as soon as it becomes firm enough. To 

 determine this, various tests may be used. Some opera- 

 tors test it by pressing it away from the side of the vat, 

 considering it ready to cut when it separates cleanly from 

 the metal. The test most commonly used is to insert 

 the index finger obliquely into the curd, then to start 

 to split the curd with the thumb and finally to raise the 

 finger gently ; if ready to cut, the curd will split cleanly 



