rilKKSK 



141 



employed in the same manner as hot water or 



steam. 



It would ! mi-leading to fix definite tempera- 

 tui-f- or assume definite rules of any kind in speak- 

 ing of the liroud principles and practices of Briti-h 

 eheese making, because there are so mai. 

 \\liirli dill'er materially in iniportiint particulars. 

 \ thermometer should be used at all times and 



in all -\-tems. The old thod of testing l'\ the 



ham) hardly now exists, and certainly not among 

 good cheesemakers. The ordinary temperatures at 

 whieh milk is set or steeped vary with the system 

 adopted ami the temperature of the atmosphere 

 from 80 to 90, more or less, is the nearest indica- 

 tion that it is safe to make. High temperatures 

 a iv used in making deep cheeses, such as Cheddars ; 

 low temperatures in making sltitllow cheeses, as the 

 < ild fashioned Dunlops. The Gloucester is a well- 

 known variety set at a temperature nearer to 80 

 than 90 F. By setting at too high a temperature 

 the curd gets hard and tough, though it needs a 

 considerable amount of consistency if it is to retain 

 a symmetrical form in a deep cheese. If worked 

 too cold, the curd is soft and the whey difficult to 

 get out of it, the processes of rennet fermentation 

 and acid fermentation do not go on sufficiently, and 

 their work is imperfect. In all cases the greatest 

 regularity in method should be maintained from 

 day to day. 



After heating, the colouring matter ( now almost 

 invariably Annatto, q.v. ) is put in. This is not 

 considered an adulteration, as it is innocuous. 

 It in no way improves the quality of the cheese, 

 the effect being only upon the colour. All cheeses 

 are not coloured, though the practice is widespread. 

 Rennet is put in about the same time, and after 

 thorough stirring for the purpose of mixing these 

 added ingredients, as well as for keeping down the 

 cream, it is left for 40 or 60 minutes. 



Breaking the curd to let out the whey is the next 

 process. Networks of thin wire, or series of thin 

 Knives, are passed through it in various directions 

 with great caution, to prevent the curd substance 

 being carried off with the whey, which would give 

 it a white rather than its natural green hue. As the 

 curd hardens it is more quickly worked and finally 

 broken into small particles, so as to allow the whey 

 to escape. The expulsion of the latter is helped 

 on by the contraction of the curd, due to the 

 gradual increase of acidity. Acidity develops 

 naturally if time is allowed, but it is judicious to 

 hasten it by the addition of warm whey during the 

 process of working. Another method of bringing 

 about the necessary amount of acidity is to expose 

 the curd to the air for a time before it is salted. 

 Salt, besides giving a flavour, stops the action of 

 the acidity in cheese after it has done its work 

 of expelling the whey. If allowed to go on, the 

 acidity would destroy the cheese by curtailing the 

 ripening action of rennet. Excess of salt retards 

 the latter process. 



After the curd has been broken thoroughly, on 

 being allowed to settle so as to drain off the whey, 

 it adheres together into an india-rubber-like mass ; 

 this is cut and broken up into small pieces by its 

 passage through a 'curd-mill.' The finest quality 

 of dairy salt should be used ; the crystals being 

 large is an indication of its purity, especially from 

 magnesia salts, which give a bitter taste and other- 

 wise injure all dairy products. The quantity em- 

 ployed is, more or less, about 1 Ib. of salt to 56 Ib. 

 of curd dry enough to be made up and put into the 

 cheese-press. Its amount should vary with the 

 degree of acidity and the amount of moisture, 

 present. In some cases salt is applied wholly or in 

 part dry, or as a brine, to the outside of the cheese 

 after it has been so far pressed. In very rare cases 

 salt is put into the milk before coagulation. 



The curd is finally packed into a 'chemet* or 

 press vat, which has an a temporary lining a cloth 

 of open texture called a ' cheehe-efoth.' The vat, 

 which is a strong wooden or tinned-iron vessel 

 with perforations in the sides and bottom to allow 

 of the escape of any little surplus moisture, in 

 placed in a press, and the cheese subjected gradu- 

 ally to a pressure of alxmt one ton. The curd 

 soon assumes the form in which it is to remain as 

 a cheese. For a few days the cloths are taken of}' 

 regularly and changed ; the cheese being turned 

 over each time to make it keep its shape. Ripening 

 is the next process of importance. Deep cheeses are 

 bandaged, and some are covered with cotton cloths 

 (caps) made to fit tightly. They are then placed 

 in the curing or ripening room, which should l>e 

 dry, well ventilated, and maintained at an even 

 temperature of about 70 F. There the green indi- 

 gestible and insipid curd changes naturally into 

 the sweet, mellow, nutty, and full-flavoured pro- 

 duct cheese, which, if taken in moderation, and 

 especially towards the end of a meal, is an aid 

 to digestion. The ripening process, which is 

 also associated with drying and shrinkage of 

 about 10 per cent, in weight, varies in length 

 from a few weeks to a few months. Acid cheeses 

 are soon ready for market, and spoil if kept for 

 a long time. Sweet cheeses are slow in matur- 

 ing, and continue to improve even if kept for 

 years. The tendency in cheese-making both in 

 Great Britain and in America has recently been to 

 early maturity, the strong inducement being that 

 of early returns. 



The Cheddar system of cheese-making, which 

 first originated in Somersetshire, is, if we embrace 

 Great Britain, Canada, and the United States of 

 America, the most widely practised system of all. 

 The old methods have been much altered in recent 

 times to suit the tendency in the market for early 

 maturity. The following is an account of the 

 system as now practised, with improvements sug- 

 gested by American and Canadian experience. 



The cream is removed from the evening's milk 

 after standing overnight, and is only returned to 

 the full bulk immediately before putting in the 

 rennet ; the object is to prevent the cream being 

 made oily by heating to a high temperature. The 

 rennet is added at a temperature ranging from 82 

 to 88 F., but the milk is heated a few degrees 

 above the point fixed upon for steeping, and left to 

 ripen. The temperature falls to the required point 

 meanwhile. The higher range of temperature is 

 adopted when the milk is sweet and recently 

 drawn from the cow. Low temperatures suit old 

 milk or warm weather. If the cheese is to be 

 marketed within twenty days, enough rennet 

 should be added to induce the initial stages of 

 coagulation within eight to twelve minutes. After 

 this it should be left for twelve to eighteen 

 minutes, then breaking begins with the perpen- 

 dicular and horizontal cutting knives. It is stirred 

 for about fifteen minutes with a hand-rake, and 

 the temperature afterwards raised to 96-98 F., 

 or even by some up to 102 F. The whole is allowed 

 to settle and remain nearly an hour to ' cook ' the 

 curd. As soon as the latter is elastic enough for 

 the particles to retain their independent shapes on 

 being grasped and squeezed by nand, the bulk of 

 the whey is run off. What remains and the curd, 

 still in small pieces, are removed bodily from the 

 steep-tub or vat, and placed in a flat cooler 

 with an inner movable, sparred, false bottom, to 

 secure drainage. The vessel is lined with a cheese- 

 cloth. On this the curd is exposed to the air and 

 well worked by hand, so as to press out the whey 

 and keep the particles from adhering to one another 

 at too early a stage. After being well worked and 

 exposed it 'is left to run together, being covered up 



